Ashes to Ashes
by Valerianna
Summary: My one-shots collection. Newstory-CHA17-Haruno Sakura never expected to be part of a debt that fell onto her shoulders by someone else. It's a painful realization-that she couldn't afford to pay back her debt to Uchiha Sasuke-not in this life time.
1. Like Tears 1

A/N:As always, thank you to my beta SapphireRivulet.

This is a new experiment. I found this idea stored in the back of my memory a long long long time ago. I dug it out and made a few thousand words out of it haha.

Well I haven't read this idea on FF yet, so hopefully you guys will find it refreshing.

This is a "triology". There are three chapters in total. Now-presenting the first one.

Enjoy~

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><p><strong>Like Tears<strong>

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><p>1.<p>

It was a snowy day, when Sasuke first kissed Sakura.

It wasn't windy that day, so it wasn't that cold, either. They were standing by the parking lot, but there were no cars in sight and everywhere was covered by a thick layer of snow.

The snowflakes twirled and swirled around the sky before dropping down upon the ground, as if the air was their playground.

Sakura couldn't keep her eyes shut when he kissed her. It was a light kiss, a small touch of lips on lips. In her moment of daze, all she could think about were his eyelashes. Those lashes that ran for miles, acted like a little fan. She could see their shadows kissing his cheekbones. There were a few little snowflakes that had embedded themselves on his lashes. They stayed there, decorating his eyes, and as soon they melted they look like tears. His eyelashes looked iridescent.

As if by magic, the entire scene mesmerized her.

He smiled. It was a light sort of smile, half taunting, half teasing, and it never ceased to make her heart flutter like a newborn butterfly.

"Sa-ku-ra," He whispered. "Close your eyes, please."

She made a sound from the depth of her throat. His voice had the ability to soak her entirely in honey – and so she closed her eyes tentatively.

His kisses then came down upon her like fire – it burnt her up.

2.

The first time Sakura saw him, she was in the club 'Dust', and she was working as a temporary waitress. Sasuke was on stage, dressed entirely in leather. His body was moving however the audience wanted, and it was driving them insane.

The first thing that attracted her to him was his expression...

No, it wasn't his face, or his body, although those were exceptionally eye-catching as well. It was his expression that kept Sakura's eyes glued to the man-the man who stripped and teased in front of hormone filled individuals for a living. He smiled and spoke, but his expression was arrogant and unnerving, as if telling everybody around the stage that they were beneath him.

The audience didn't care, - or seem to notice - of course. One look from him, one movement of his, and they would go crazy. He had the power to excite people, the power to agitate even the calmest of emotions, and he had the power to manipulate people into doing anything he wanted.

Perhaps it was his eyes that mesmerized her. Those onyx eyes that looked through all the people who screamed his name and begged for his attention. Those people were filled only with their own ugly desires, ones which he would only ever fulfill in their fantasies. In reality, he was as arrogant as a king.

His eyes had the ability to talk, to express emotions that people didn't want understand. Many people - be it man or woman - were crazy about him. He had a slender yet muscular body, and it was flexible enough to perform moves that drove the crowds wild with desire. His face was flawless, with skin pale as porcelain, and cheekbones so sharp, they made light dance upon his features like the shadows of ghosts.

But his most haunting feature was his eyes. They looked like they were made from water and glass, as if one look from him and your soul was stolen.

Sakura was hooked the moment she saw him.

Under the colorful stage lights, his eyes looked almost red as they swept over the crowd, his sinful slash of a mouth pulled up in a sneer.

_'You are all the same,_' he thought, _'same, same, same_.'

3.

Sasuke was pushed into a wall by a man much larger than he was.

"Let's see what's underneath all that leather!" The man laughed lewdly as his hands reached towards Sasuke's crotch. Unfortunately, that hand was broken before it touched anything.

"Tsunade," Sasuke acknowledged blankly. "Why did you break his hand?"

Tsunade laughed awkwardly. "If I didn't, you would've broken his arm."

Sasuke chuckled, and pushed the man who was yelling in agony away. He grabbed a piece of duct tape and shut the man up.

"Fire him, Tsunade."

Tsunade raised a finely plucked eyebrow.

"Please?" He tilted his head and simpered in a teasing tone.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, since you asked _so_nicely... I guess I need another caretaker for Tonton."

The pig honked behind Tsunade.

Sakura waited outside at the backdoor of the 'Dust' for Sasuke to show up.

He was one of the last few who came out, and he exited with the clubs owner, Tsunade.

"S..Sasuke-kun!" Sakura stepped up and piped at Sasuke; her voice was unusually squeaky because she was shaking with fear and nerves. "I...I love you!"

Sasuke looked at the small girl in front of him. She couldn't have been older than eighteen, could she?

Tsunade sighed. "Sakura, what are you doing?"

Sasuke hugged his coat tighter, the fox fur rubbed against his skin like silk. "Sakura, is it? How old are you?"

"Twenty," Sakura replied, her vermillion eyes clear and shining with eagerness.

Tsunade said strictly, "Sakura, you are a waitress. You can't get involved with our staff!"

Sakura couldn't look directly right at him, so she lowered her head and mumbled something about how she was only a temporary waitress anyway.

Sasuke patted Sakura's head and smiled, "twenty huh? I'm older than you by five years."

Sakura whispered, "I know."

Sasuke didn't say anything. He smiled at her - and that action completely dazzled the poor girl - before he left her at the back door, walked towards his car and drove off.

Tsunade sighed at the still dazzled girl, before she also drove off as well.

It was almost three minutes later when Sakura snapped back to reality, and realized that she was alone in the dark, dark night.

4.

Darkness was only the beginning in that part of the town. Darkness signified the start of drinking fests, partying, and of course, shows.

Many, many shows were put on for the customer's enjoyment. Many shows that included men, women, and animals.

It was pure debauchery. It was the life that Sakura was facing at that moment. She wandered into that part of town, and in order to stay alive, she had to work at whatever job she could find.

Not that she could do much. She was only a plain and simple girl, whose only extraordinary quality was her absurd hair color. People often thought that it was dyed, and in the atmosphere of 'Dust', no one noticed the pink haired girl when shows were performed on stage. Shows that included handcuffs, cages, and whips.

Sakura served various drinks to various people, since she didn't have the skills or the ability to perform on stage. She would go around and refill everybody's cups. But more often than not, her eyes were glued to the stage - because he was there.

How could she be so obsessed with him?

Uh, besides the obvious reasons explaining why everybody else was obsessed with him.

When he came on, everybody screamed his name, people stood up to get closer to him. As if his entire existence was their reason for coming to the place.

That night, the show would consist of something along the lines of a girl dressing up as a wild beast, and a man dressed in faux fur (or was it real? She couldn't tell) holding a whip. She never seemed to care about the story line... If there ever was one. All she cared about was him. His eyes, his face, and his sneer that made Sakura ashamed of herself for even deigning to look at him.

He stood on stage, dressed in leather and fur that covered only his chest and waist. The rest of his body was covered mainly by long fur gloves and boots. He had a whip - a whip that was lean, slender, and made sounds so provocative it excited the audience even further.

His eyes roamed around the club, the movements and steps he had performed many, many times were like second nature to him. He was able to step in the right place, and wave his body the right way even with his eyes closed. He raised his whip and slashed down - it hit the air with a "crack", and the people screamed for more.

5.

Sasuke was bored.

His eyes shone with boredom, because he had done the routine so many times, it  
>felt monotonous. Those people don't care about feelings, or emotions. All they cared about was whether he would punish the girl in front of him with his whips or not.<p>

From across the room, the Sasuke on stage found Sakura's eyes.

He was scanning the room in boredom when he saw her. He chuckled in amusement,  
>because she looked at him with admiration instead of desire.<p>

It was a strange sort of look, one that he wasn't familiar with, and it stroked his pride even further.

He smiled at her, while their eyes were glued to each other. He licked his whip before running it across his body.

Her eyes widened, and she spilled her tray unintentionally.

He laughed internally while watching her scurry about to clean up her mess; it made him happy to watch her spinning around busily... Like a little bee.

He held the name in his mind for the rest of his performance, like a simple note that was consistently strung upon his heart.

Sa-ku-ra...

6.

"Sasuke, that girl is still outside. Do you want me to get rid of her?" Karin asked. Karin usually performed with him.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Just leave. Ignore her."

Obviously, Karin was not satisfied with his answer, because she grumbled something and left through the back door.

Sakura watched as the door opened and her hopes rose, only to quickly fall when she saw Karin instead of the person she wanted.

But what was she going to do after she saw him? Usually he just walked past without even sparing her a glance, and she ended up standing in the cold, and remembering that she had to walk for thirty minutes to get home because she didn't catch the last bus.

Sakura sighed. She leaned against the cold hard stone walls and wanted to cry.

It wasn't fair for someone to have it all, while she had nothing.

She later found out how true this was.

Sakura suddenly discovered that the red haired girl hadn't closed the back door entirely. There was a small chink of light between the door and the frame.

Sakura hesitated before she put her hand on the door and pulled. She found herself standing in the dressing room at the far back of the club.

It was really quiet. Of course it was quiet. It was three in the morning and nobody was there.

She wasn't even sure if Sasuke was there. Maybe he'd slipped out...

But she had to find out. So she tip toed into the private dressing rooms.

Suddenly, a moan stopped her. It made her freeze in her tracks.

That moan didn't belong to a woman. Rather, it came from a man, and she knew too well whom it belonged to.

She stood and listened as the moaning continued. It wasn't loud, nor did it sound often. It seemed suppressed and distant somehow... Nevertheless, it drove her insane.

She walked a little deeper into the dressing room, and she her eyes alighted upon an almost naked Sasuke leaning against a wall, groaning whilst stroking himself back and forth.

She stared bluntly. She couldn't move her eyes away from the scene.

She watched his little performance, to which she was the only viewer, and she was breathless.

After Kami knows how long, he released himself into his hands, and leaned against the wall whilst his eyes remained tightly shut.

"How long are you going to stand there and watch?" He asked her with no emotion in his voice. No shame of being caught out, no nothing.

She immediately panicked. "I don't know! I... Sorry, the door, I..."

He turned his head slowly and opened his eyes to look at her. She immediately stood still under his scrutinizing gaze, her cheeks blushing.

After a while, Sasuke washed his hands and wiped himself clean. He took off his stage cloth and put on his own winter coat - he showed no embarrassment over changing in front of her - and he walked past her without acknowledging her existence.

She stood in the dressing rooms, dazed long after he'd left.

7.

"Sasuke-kun, You missed this part," Karin said teasingly as she tried to hook on the stage bra.

"Yeah, yeah," He hooked her bra with a stroke of his hands, and then walked towards Tsunade's office.

"I need you to fire that girl, Sakura," Sasuke stated plainly as he watched Tsunade bury herself in beer bottles.

"Why?" Tsunade questioned. "She is willing to work for minimum wage, she is diligent and patient, and to top it all off, she's willing to clean up after Tonton."

Sasuke wearily eyed the small pig who honked at him while twirling between Tsunade's feet.

"So unless you're willing to clean up after Tonton, I don't think I'll fire her," Tsunade concluded. "Now leave. I have more drinking to do."

Sasuke left her office, fuming. Tsunade chuckled.

"Sasuke-kun!" Karin jumped into his arms. "Are you ready to perform?"

"Of course," Sasuke replied absentmindedly, and grabbed his gloves and shoulder fur.

'This isn't good,' he thought to himself as he smiled routinely while going on stage. 'I'm going crazy'.

His head was filled with thoughts of the pink haired girl, and even as he performed, his mind was filled with images of her. His thoughts came back to the week previously when she had caught him pleasuring himself in the dressing room. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes clear, even after witnessing something that was supposed to be disgusting.

He found himself wanting to take her in his arms and fuck her senseless. It wouldn't be hard, since she looked like she had no experience in that area anyway. He wanted to show her what pleasure was, what it felt like to reach the heavens, and stay there for quite a while.

He found himself wanting to catch her eye while he was on stage. It wasn't hard, because she was always looking at him.

His licked his lips and thought to Sakura, _'This is for you - For you! So watch me. Watch me as I make you go insane.'_

He figured out what was making him so mad. It was her eyes. Her stupid green eyes that were able to look at him without lust or desire. Those eyes that made him think that he was the best in the world, and there was no one that could even begin to compare.

After everybody left, he found her standing outside again, waiting for him.

It was snowing lightly, and there was no wind.

Instead of walking right past her, he walked up to her.

She couldn't believe it either. Her eyes went wide as he bent down and kissed her.

"Are you stupid?" He asked as the snow swirled down on her pink hair.

She puffed her cheeks and immediately retorted with, "I'm not stupid."

"Then it must be me," he whispered as he licked her lips like they were coated in candy. "Promise me that you will love me and me alone."

She said solemnly, "I will love only you."

He chuckled and kissed her until she melted in his arms.

He took her home that day.

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><p>TBC<p> 


	2. Like Tears 2

A/N: Thank you very much to QueensGambit^^ My beta for this short story

Like Tears 2

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><p>8<p>

He propped his head up on an elbow and watched the pink haired girl, still sound asleep, and mumble something incoherent.

Sasuke chuckled as he brushed some hair out of her face. He bent down and to kiss her, because she tasted wonderful.

Sakura cracked open her eyelid and saw him. Thinking that she must be dreaming, she rolled around and went back to sleep.

Stiffling a laugh, he decided to go and make some breakfast. He struggled, however, with the thought of leaving his comfortable bed and, more importantly, leaving her.

Eventually, Sakura rubbed open her eyes and woke up fully. She couldn't see her familiar room around her, finding herself instead in a strange, dark room.

In a flash, she sat bolt upright and scanned her surroundings, until finally she laid her eyes on Sasuke.

"So it wasn't a dream," she concluded, "Sasuke-kun seduced me."

There are many things that passed through Sasuke's mind, but he chose to stay silent.

"Uh, good morning," she managed, still feeling sleepy, "should I leave?"

"Why?" He frowned.

She had assumed that he was used to one night stands, but now she wasn't so sure. Dumbfounded, she remained silent.

Sasuke lifted the covers to reveal a blotch of blood on the sheets. Seeing the incriminating evidence made all the blood rush to her head.

"Virgin?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not anymore," she grumbled.

He laughed seductively, which made more blood rush to her face, "Sakura, go take a shower and we will have breakfast. Or rather... Lunch."

Sakura mumbled something about being hungry before wrapping the bed covers around her naked form and stumbling towards the shower.

This left Sasuke naked in his own bed.

His eyes followed her into the bathroom as he wondered how she has suddenly become so self-conscious, but he tossed the thought aside as he went to join her in the shower.

The tiny apartment was filled with yelps and laughter once again.

9.

"This is where you live?"

Sasuke had discovered that Sakura quite literally lived in an alley behind the dumpsters. She even had a stray cat in her little shed and it came and went as it pleased.

He struggled to believe what he was seeing.

Sakura flushed, "Well, I came to Japan illegally..."

"From now on, you're living with me." Sasuke concluded, "And don't bother moving these. They can stay here. Let's get you some new clothes."

Sakura collected some of her personal items and put them in a backpack while Sasuke stood at the door waiting. She looked around the shed and examined the small space -this is where she had lived for the past two months. If it hadn't been for the winter she would still have lived on the streets.

As she left her shed behind, she wasn't sure what to feel. She supposed she was lucky that Sasuke had taking a liking to her, but what happens next? She ignored the thought as she walked away from the previous chapter of her life.

"Trust me," Sasuke hugged her and bent down to kiss her again the moment she stepped out of her little shed. She was surprised, so she didn't resist. His tongue twirled and swirled in her mouth and his body was pressed up against hers. He laughed as she moaned against him before tracing her lips in longing.

"I love your lips..." He muttered, "They are so pink. Just like the rest of you."

She blushed furiously.

"Sometimes you're pink too!" she said indignantly.

"Oh? When am I pink?" He asked, amused.

Sakura thought quite hard for an example before saying in a very serious tone, "When I told you that I love you."

Sasuke turned away from her and blushed, but she insisted on seeing his face, so she jumped around him while he avoided her gaze.

At that moment, they were the happiest couple in the world.

10.

Sasuke gave up his bachelor lifestyle, because now he had to support two people instead of one.

He quit many things, such as ordering takeout every day, buying expensive clothing and having one-night stands.

He also made her quit her job as a waitress, much to Tsunade's disappointment.

Instead, Sakura started to take care of the house, buy food from the superstore and cook for the two of them. She was confused about what she was to him, or what to call their relationship, despite living so closely with despite that, she was satisfied, because he was all she wanted, even if he was to go around and fuckother women, he was still all she wanted.

He would sleep until noon, then get up and eat with her. They would spend their afternoons in serenity. Later at night he would go off to work and comeback at or before midnight to eat with her. For desert, they would make love again.

Sometimes their conversations went something like this;

"Sakura, what are you thinking?"

She would be leaning against the dining table and say wistfully, "I wonder how Tonton is doing..."

Sasuke would almost choke, "You miss that pink ball of meat?"

Sakura would then glare at him as menacingly as she could, then say, "Tonton was so nice to me. Sometimes he would know that I'm hungry, so he would share half of his buttermilk with me. Of course I had to kiss his nose first..."

Sasuke wanted to kill that perverted pig, but his thoughts would jump to her body.

"You are too thin," he would say. "You need to eat more. I'm going to feed you until you have a figure like Tonton, so you can share buttermilk with yourself."

Sakura would laugh happily. It had never occurred to her that she had to watch her weight. When she lived on the streets all she could think about is food. Staying thin seemed like a luxury. Now that she could eat as much as she wanted, she ate as much as her little stomach could handle.

Sometimes when he couldn't get her attention because she was busy washing the dishes or cleaning up the table, he would start stripping right in front of her. This would never fail to make her stop whatever she was doing and glue her eyes on his body. He was happy that he had such an effect on her and was even happier whenever she blushed seven shades of red and ended up collapsing breathless in his arms. Then the chores were forgotten, because he would carry her to the bedroom and then take her up to heaven.

Sometimes he would watch her cook for him. It was reassuring to know that hot food would be there when he got home.

Most of the time he would hug her in his arms and cuddle with her until they both fell asleep. Sometimes they would watch TV, sometimes they would watch the snow, but most often he would watche her while she watched the TV or the snow.

They were happy. Truly, wonderfully, happy.

But along with happiness, inevitably, came misery.

11.

A gang of men rushed into the back dressing room of "Dust", demanding to see Sasuke.

Sasuke had just gotten off the stage and was tossing his stage clothes in the washer when he heard commotion outside. He thought he could hear people yelling his name.

He went out and asked what was going on and came face to face with a snake-like man who was smiling lewdly at him.

Sasuke frowned in disgust. Orochimaru had money to throw around, so he came here almost exclusively when Sasuke had a performance. Of course nobody dared to say no to him; with all that money, whomever he decided to take home was supposed to be the luckiest person in the world. After all, who could resist falling right into the lap of luxury?

And apparently now Orochimaru wanted Sasuke.

Sasuke, however, was having none of that and simply said, "No."

"Well, I am not an unreasonable man," Orochimaru hissed, "How about a little bet?"

Sasuke frowned in disgust.

"If you can maintain yourself for the next minute, you are free. If you ejaculate, you come with me," Orochimaru continued shamelessly.

Sasuke's mind suddenly went blank. He knew this feeling all too well, the dawning of understanding as he realizes that earlier, his drink had been spiked.

Sasuke held on to the dresser counters as a support and spat out, "I did not agree to make this bet."

Orochimaru just smiled, "Too late now, then."

His hand reached towards Sasuke, and it felt like raw skin, slimy and disgusting. Sasuke shuddered as he felt himself lose control of his body. Then he blacked out.

Orochimaru tsked at his unconscious form, "So beautiful. His eyes..."

Then he contemplated the possibility of taking Sasuke's eye balls out and preserving them in chemicals. He decided this was certainly something to think about later.

"Let's go," he said to men behind him, "Is the car ready? I don't want to be here when Tsunada gets back."

Meanwhile Sakura baked some ribs for dinner and she waited and waited in front of the windows, but she never saw Sasuke.

She finally couldn't take it anymore, so she took a bus straight to "Dust" to look for him.

But when she arrived, she was greeted by the sight of a messy dressing room and an almost empty club.

"What happened?" She asked Karin, who was in panic.

"Orochimaru took Sasuke-kun." Karin said, shaking violently.

"Where's Tsunade-San?" Sakura asked, looking around, barely restraining herself from panicking as well.

"She went out to take care of some things, she won't be back until later..."

Sakura sunk down in the mess, feeling like any moment she would burst and cry.

As every minute passed, she felt more and more like she was burning in hot oil. Those minutes were made more excruciating by the fact that she couldn't help with anything - she had no power to. Tsunade was out, so she had to wait patiently until she came back.

A few hours later, she finally heard the sounds of an approaching car, so she ran outside to inform Tsunade of what had happened.

"Orochimaru! He... He took Sasuke!"

Tsunade immediately ran to her office, and said, "Sakura, call this number. Only he can take care of Orochimaru."

Sakura didn't argue. At this point she was willing to do anything. So she dialed the number.

After a couple of rings a man picked up, "Uchiha Itachi," he said.

Sakura immediately yelled, "Sasuke - Sasuke is in trouble! Orochimaru took him, he... He..."

The man was quiet for a few seconds before he said, "Thank you, I will take care of this."

Then he hung up.

Sakura stared at the phone, breathless.

"What did he say?" Tsunade asked whilst inspecting the mess around her.

"He said he will take care of it." Sakura said, stunned.

"Then don't worry." Tsunade said, "Sasuke is as good as saved."

"He said his name is Uchiha Itachi..."

Tsunade looked at Sakura sadly, "I'm sorry Sakura. This is the only way to save him."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, her face blank.

Tsunade pointed at a hotel across the street. "That is owned by the Uchihas. In fact they own most of the chain hotels and banks."

Realization sank in as Sakura thought back to Sasuke's living behavior. So he came from a rich family...

"... And I don't think there is any way for you guys to be together anymore." Tsunade said, sorrow written clearly in her eyes.

"Why? Because of his family?" Sakura asked urgently.

"Yes and no," Tsunade answered thoughtfully, "He ran away from his family to escape an unwanted marriage. Now that he has asked for help from the Uchihas, he must go back and..."

Tsunade didn't finish her sentence, because she looked up just to realize that Sakura was gone.

12.

Sakura has been sat on the couch in his tiny apartment for days now. She waited and waited and waited... It seemed almost true. He belonged to a different world full of riches and he wasn't coming back.

Sometimes she wondered if it was by choice. Surely he could spare an hour or two to drive to his old flat and visit her?

Sometimes she wondered if fate has played a cruel joke upon her. Just as she had finally found a home, it was taken away again.

She lay on his couch as her tears began to flow. Tsunade had given Sakura some money saying that it belonged to Sasuke. She didn't know what to do with it.

She crawled around in the darkness and cried most of the time, mostly because she was lonely and her heart was breaking.

It first occurred to her that he wasn't coming back when two days later, she was dumping out some food that she had saved for Sasuke. He was a wonderful cook-but she had more patience to do it, so she did all chores around the house. Sometimes, when she was really tired, he would get up a little early and cook a wonderful meal consisting of eggs and bacon for breakfast. She loved to lean against the kitchen door and watch as he busily handled dishes and pans back and forth. She would smile and say that everything was delicious and he would chuckle, asking why it shouldn't be. He was practically perfect.

But now she lay on that couch and she didn't want to move anymore. There was no incentive, there was no motive and there was no Sasuke. She missed his eyes, his long and beautiful eyes that were able to steal away one's soul. She missed his silky straight hairtwirling her fingers in it as they kiss...

There was no reason for her existence... Without him.

But he wasn't dead. He just went back to his world, where Sakura didn't belong.

She decided that she would try to go and see him. She would ask to see him at the Uchiha compound in downtown and if that didn't work, she would just wait outside for him until he came out.

It's not like she hadn't done this before.

13.

When Uchiha Itachi was born, the Oracle said that this son is going to bring extreme wealth and fortune into the Uchiha family.

Uchiha Fugaku was very happy with this prediction, vowed that this son was his to train and that he would bring Itachi up to be a man more powerful above all else.

But, unfortunately, fortune and disaster often go hand in hand. The Oracle also said that one boy was enough for the Uchiha family. If next were to come a girl, this family would have power above all else. But, if next came another boy, then he would bring about the doom of the family.

Uchiha Fugaku was a very proud man. Within five years of his first son's birth, he expanded his business internationally and also began to invest into the hotel business instead of only banks. Soon, on Itachi's fifth birthday, the Uchiha family was celebrating their grand opening of the largest Casino in the country.

But Fugaku got greedy. He purposely impregnated his wife, hoping fervently that it would be a daughter. In fact, he was so sure that the next baby would be a daughter, he didn't even bother to doubt it.

And on that fine day in July, Sasuke came to this world screaming and crying. It was almost as if he knew that his life was doomed.

Fugaku did not heed the Oracle's words, mainly because his lovely wife, Uchiha Mikoto, was holding the baby boy to her heart and claimed she would commit seppuku should anyone dare take her child from her. Itachi stood by the corner and watched as his father and mother yelled back and forth, back and forth. His baby brother was set aside in his crib, forgotten and weeping.

Sasuke was not born a very healthy baby. He was slightly smaller than normal babies, his arms a little thinner and his voice a little weaker. So he couldn't cry as if all hell broke loose, he could only weep, and it sounded like a wounded baby ostrich, with no place to run.

Itachi held Sasuke in his arms and told him, "I'm going to protect you. I am going to protect you even if I die."

As if by some coincidence, within a month of Sasuke's birth, the family experienced a major oil spill in the East Seas.

Within a year of Sasuke's birth, the family Casino was signed off to another family.

Within five years of Sasuke's birth, the Uchiha family was facing bankruptcy.

Uchiha Fugaku went to The Oracle in the mountains and begged. He prayed and begged to know the solution of all this. The Oracle told him, "It is simple, just send the boy away and your life will be restored."

The moment Uchiha Fugaku returned to civilization he ordered Sasuke to be sent off to an orphanage. The further away, the better.

Sasuke was five years old at the time. He had only recently discovered the magic of memories and the image of his chubby little hands tugging on his brother's sleeve while somebody much stronger than him pulled his body away from Itachi was etched into his young, innocent mind.

Sasuke screamed and yelled - because he could yell much louder now - but he just couldn't understand. Why didn't they want him anymore? Why wouldn't they keep him inside this big beautiful house? Why would he never see them again?

He could remember every single detail of that day. The clouds, the sunshine, the tears on his mother's face and the pain in his brother's eyes...

Sasuke was five at the time.

14.

Sakura sat in the parking lot outside the Uchiha compound. The main building itself was so fancy and glamourous that she didn't dare to go in. Though it wasn't for lack of trying. The moment she stepped in she had been cut up by a fairly big security guy and was thrown out.

She bought a copy of July's newspaper, because it contained a long documentary on the Uchiha family.

Although most of the information seemed to be speculations, there wasn't much detail to actual truth and fact about the family. Then again, this family was known to be pretty private.

She read that the biggest scandal was that a son was sent to an orphanage many years ago. It's was around 19, 20 years ago... it was the younger of the two sons, who had to grow up without proper education because of it. It also appeared that, as soon as that son was sent away, Uchiha Mikoto died of severe depression.

Undoubtedly, however, the Uchiha family was now wealthier than ever before.

Some say that the men of the Uchiha sold their wives and souls to the devil to make themselves rich. When Sakura read to this part, she couldn't help but laugh.

Some say that the males of the Uchiha family are born in a dichotomy. While one is born with luck, another is born with misery.

It was also said that, ever since Uchiha Itachi took over the company, it was all going uphill and that he locked his father away to die once he had taken over every single estate.

It wasn't clear how Uchiha Fugaku died. In fact, within only a couple of decades, every single Uchiha except for Itachi and the mysterious son roaming around the world had died.

Sakura folded away her paper and sighed.

She knew from the moment she laid her eyes on him that he wasn't from her world. The world of commoners. He seemed so perfect, so flawless, even the dirtiest environment couldn't affect him.

She sighed wistfully at the large building and leaned against the light pole and waited.

She waited and waited and waited, but he never appeared.

* * *

><p>TBC<p> 


	3. Like Tears 3

A/N: Thank you to QueensGambit~^^

2 chapters in 1 dayyy! Eee see I warned people it's updated irregularly. Part of me really wants to get this short story over with. Here it is.

* * *

><p>15.<p>

They lived their life as a happy family for the first five years of Sasuke's life.

It was like in a fairy tale. Their mother shielded them from any harsh looks and malicious intents that came their way.

They were simply two brothers and that's all they were.

Itachi usually came home before dinner would teach Sasuke artifacts of knowledge.

Simple things, like 2 plus 2. Even simpler ones, like knowing all the colors and spellings, then learning not to judge anyone based on them.

Sasuke always listened to Itachi tentatively, although Itachi wondered if his little brain was going to remember these things by the time dinner rolled around.

They were happiest when Father wasn't home for dinner. Conversation was allowed and there was nobody at the table banging on Sasuke's chubby knuckles because he couldn't hold his chopsticks correctly.

Mother would bring a big batch of the two brother's favorite soup and give them both a big bowl. They both ate and drank and happily, discussing the events that were most important in their lives.

Sometimes it would be the bird that lived in the backyard. Sometimes it would be dandelions that Sasuke was growing. Sometimes it was about Itachi's little girlfriends.

At least, Sasuke thought they were his girlfriends. His mother always giggled, but Sasuke saw nothing funny in his observations. His older brother was popular and had a lot of friends, but they happened to be girls and they happened to follow him from home to school and from school back home.

"Will I get a lot of girlfriends?" Sasuke asked Itachi quite seriously one day.

Mikoto was giggling endlessly while Itachi smiled and said, "Yes, you will."

It was quite an adventure, thinking about what was going to happen in his future with all the girlfriends he was going to get.

At least Itachi was right about one thing. He did get a lot of girlfriends when he grew up.

Most of Sasuke's life was spent in the gardens, with Mikoto. He helped his Momma weed out the crabgrass and pull out tall dandelions. Mikoto knitted a pair of woolen gloves just for his little chubby hands and he loved them dearly.

Most of the time he wore hand knit things made by Mikoto. He thought it was the best thing in the world to be able to wear them, because they were made by his mother and his mother was the most amazing girl in the world.

The night before he went away from homeMomma was hugging his little body tightly as she cried and cried. It was the middle of December. Sasuke wondered what was going on, because amazing girls who are able to create clothing out of nothing are not supposed to cry.

He didn't understand anything at that time. He was so small, so small...

Years later, Itachi came and visited Sasuke. There was a hint of something in Itachi's eyes that Sasuke was almost afraid to face. The news of their father dying was, despite everything, not easy to face.

"Come back, Sasuke." Itachi said, breathless. He had run to the orphanage as fast as he could, "Come back home and you will live with me - we will have a bright future together. There are great things waiting for you and me."

But Sasuke refused. He couldn't remember his old life anymore and cared little for it.

Itachi didn't force him. He visited Sasuke more frequently after that and would send him card after card, often filled with money.

Years later, when Sasuke thought back upon this one night, he asked himself, "What is the lowest, dirtiest way of survival?"

And so he was the first Uchiha to ever step onto a club stage.

Like Tears 3

16

Itachi stood in the living room as his little brother appeared before him.

They were in Itachi's office, which consisted of a shelf full of books and an extravagant table covered in files and paper. There were vases and statues and a velvet curtain so smooth that it looked like a dance floor for fairies.

Itachi frowned at Sasuke's shabby appearance - his little brother was bruised all over.

He had last seen Sasuke a few years ago. He made a habit of visiting Sasuke every couple of years. Ever since he has had the power of hiring a private detective without his father knowing, he has been keeping an eye on Sasuke.

Sasuke wasn't very appreciative of that fact. He often ignored Itachi or avoided him like the plague. Itachi would then, in turn, blame it all on Fugaku.

"It's time for you to comeback home now, Sasuke." Itachi said, "Everybody who was prejudiced against you is gone."

Sasuke made no sound.

"Do you want to return to that life?" Itachi asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sasuke laughed violently, "What do you want? What did you want? What is it that you want from me? Is it atonement? Redemption?"

Itachi closed his eyes and thought back to that day many years ago, when he saw his mother holding Sasuke's small wool sock and cry, "He was so tiny... So tiny..."

Itachi waved off his guards, giving the two brothers some privacy.

Sasuke looked his brother straight in the eyes and asked, "Did you kill Father?"

Itachi remained unfazed. He said loud and clear, "Yes."

"How?" Sasuke didn't show much emotion either.

"I shot him." Itachi answered simply. "He was begging and screaming for mercy. I asked him why he wouldn't provide mercy when he took away my brother."

Sasuke slumped down on the couch, unsure of what to say.

Itachi leaned back against his chair.

Without much room for question, he said, "You are going to college."

Sasuke didn't argue. He thought of the pink haired girl with the bright smile. Somewhere in his heart, it stung like a bee.

"Alright." He responded, his face blank.

"Forgive me, Sasuke. I do not yet have the power to eliminate Orochimaru." Itachi said sincerely.

Sasuke did not reply.

The smile playing at the corner of his lips did not disappear as he said, "I'm used to it."

Itachi exhaled in frustration as he waved Sasuke away.

The act of self-abuse only works on those who really, really love you.

In Sasuke's case, it works.

17.

Sakura came to Japan on a boat.

She wasn't supposed to, but she came because she thought this would be the only place she could fit in with her absurd hair.

Haha... Not really.

She came because her recently deceased father was Japanese and he used to tell her stories of ninjas, geishas and feudal lords.

But the ride was anything but pleasant. She found herself on a slave boat, where physical abuse and lack of human rights went hand in hand. They had no food and barely any water, let alone any sanitary equipment, so many people died on the crossing. She was one of the last to survive this trip. Anyone from the tiny cabin they were locked up in who died on the journey was carelessly thrown into the ocean.

But despite everything, she survived. The moment they landed on Japan's shores, she made her escape and ran for dear life. She ran and didn't stop until she reached a bus stop, where a kind driver took pity on her and allowed her to come on for free.

The bus took her all the way to the other side of the city that she didn't even know the name of.

She didn't have a penny on her, but luckily it was the summer so it was warm enough to sleep outside at night.

She leaned against a light post in a parking lot; she was so thin that she could almost fit entirely behind the post and not be seen.

The club near the parking lot she stayed around the most seemed very festive and loud. But Sakura was afraid to approach, even just to ask for a cup of water.

One day, when the back door opened, she decided to take a peek at the kinds of people who spent their time at such a place. She stayed hidden behind her lamp post, keeping very still.

Out came a couple - the man was extremely handsome and they both seemed extremely rich.

They were touching each other while walking through the parking lot. Sakura watched timidly as they got into a car and stayed in there for almost 45 minutes.

Sakura thought she must be really happy, to be so loved by him.

Eventually, however, the girl stumbled out, looking quite stunned and the car started moving - the man from before in the driver's seat.

He drove past Sakura's lamp post without a second glance, fast and reckless.

The lights shone through the car window and onto his cheekbones. They were almost shiny. It made Sakura stare in amazement as light danced upon his emotionless face; they flashed from his cheek to his jaw, like tears.

She stared after Sasuke, breathless. But he didn't notice at all.

Just like two years later.

Sakura still lived in that little apartment Sasuke left her. No one came to bother her ask her to leave. She was truly forgotten by everyone.

So she continued to live there, hoping that one day he would return.

But he never came back.

She took up several jobs in order to support herself, such as Tonton care taker, a waitress, and finally as a florist.

On one particular day, she had to run an errand to deliver some flowers to the local university. It was quite a large bundle of flowers and she drove her truck very carefully and parked right at the backdoor of Student Union hall.

A representative came to greet her and helped her bring in the flowers. He was a tall blue eyed boy who complimented her looks, saying that she was cute. Sakura blushed and thanked him.

He asked for her phone number, but she was too busy to reply, because her eyes were glued on the raven haired boy walking down the steps, away from her.

She forgot to breathe, her eyes following him all the way down those steps. He was alone except for his bodyguards, who were fending off his many fan girls.

Sakura make a slight choking sound as she watched him get into a limo and drive away.

He would never know that she watched and waited for him, even after he had long since forgotten her.

18.

That night, Sakura came home, tired and exhausted. She locked the doors behind her and turned on the lights.

And then she screamed.

There was a man - a snake-like man sitting right in her living room.

He asked very politely, "How are you, Sakura-chan? Shall I make you some tea?"

Sakura didn't even get a chance to respond as the snake like man twirled his fingers around her teacup.

"Stop screaming, it's unbecoming."

Sakura shut up.

Orochimaru stepped up and said, "Sakura-chan, I've decided to kidnap you, so I may use you to blackmail Sasuke-kun."

Sakura asked in a shiver, "Why would you want to do that?"

Orochimaru smiled ever so slightly, "So I can taste him again, of course."

Sakura did not have a chance to be disgusted, because she was injected with a sleeping potion.

Orochimaru stepped outside of the tiny apartment, his henchmen carrying Sakura.

He looked at the dead man in the car parked at the corner of the parking lot.

"Looks like you won't be doing and reporting to the Uchihas anytime soon." Orochimaru laughed sadistically before getting into a limo.

This city was always in perpetual motion. The laughter and the party never ended. Everything just went on and on and on.

Orochimaru laughed gleefully to himself as he dialed the number of Uchiha Sasuke.

This was going to be a lot of fun.

19.

There once was a girl who fell in love with a young man, but she was very ill and soon died. After she had died she became a spirit and prayed to God to let her have a chance of seeing him again. God took pity upon this girl and said, "You may see him under one condition. You must wait five hundred years."

The girl willingly agreed and God turned her into a bridge.

So time passed and after five hundred years, she finally saw the young man again. Longingly she watched as he crossed her within but a few moments.

"Are you satisfied, my child?" God asked.

"No," she said, "I wish for him to hug me just once."

"It shall be so, but you will need to wait another five hundred years."

The girl agreed with less enthusiasm this time. She turned around and was changed into a tree.

This tree lived for five hundred years and one day, the man she loved came and rest under this tree. He put his arms around her for a brief moment before he was on his way again.

The girl faced God and He said, "My child, would you like to wait another five hundred years so that you could be his wife?"

The girl replied, "No, I can't wait anymore…"

God smiled and said, "Wonderful, because this man has been reincarnated 10 times and already waited for you for a thousand years."

Then she turned around and saw him, waiting for her.

She would never have known, until she let go of what was in front of her.

Sasuke sat in his car night after night, watching as Sakura entered and exited out of that apartment.

She would never know.

20.

Itachi was furious when he discovered that Sasuke had disappeared.

"Where has he gone?"

"Presumably to find Orochimaru." Kakashi replied.

Itachi frowned, "Why?"

"That girl..."

Itachi slumped on to the leather seat, "Kakashi, the sole reason I forbid him from having any interaction with that girl is to prevent things like this to happen. Why did he put himself in danger for that girl again?"

After a brief pause, he continued, "Nevermind, what's done is done. Have you tracked Orochimaru?"

"Almost, sir." Kakashi's voice dripped with sarcasm, "With all due respect, Uchiha-San. If you were to fall in love once in a while, you might understand Sasuke-San more."

Itachi scoffed in the face of love.

Kakashi chuckled. He was going to find love one day and it would bite him in the ass.

They stepped towards a helicopter while Itachi was complained mentally about how slow this vehicle was. Obviously no man or women should be able to touch his baby brother. It pained him to no end to realize what Sasuke had become. He was purposely trying to go against the Uchiha heritage. He didn't even think of himself as Uchiha.

Itachi began to wonder whether it would be a good idea to leave him alone, just ensuring he was well taken care of with support money.

But as soon as that thought came to mind, it was tossed away. His baby brother needed to take care of himself in this world. He needed to get a degree and a normal job. Itachi had every confidence in Sasuke's ability to become a great... Whatever he was majoring in.

Itachi naturally thought all of Sasuke's actions were justified. It was not Sasuke's fault for getting into this mess. Sasuke was simply too attractive and appealing for his own good.

This theory amused Kakashi to no end.

Itachi once yelled at Sasuke.

It was right after he had attempted to venture out and find that girl, only to find himself in a car face to face with his brother.

"Sasuke, do you have any pride left at all?" Itachi asked solemnly.

Sasuke sneered.

"If you love her, if you want her, don't you think you should at least have something to support yourself with? Are you planning on working in a club for the rest of your life?" Itachi raised his voice.

Sasuke stared coldly at Itachi, "She loves me for who I am."

"Then you owe it to her to have a better life," Itachi said, "Unless you want me to transfer funds in your account every month, I suggest you start learning."

Sasuke turned to his original little apartment. Through the window he could see that she was cooking alone. Now she was eating alone. Something was glistening on her cheek. It looked like tears.

He turned away from the small apartment and drove back to Uchiha Manor. His brother by his side, equally emotionless.

21.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

With five gun shots, Sasuke killed off the five henchmen who were in the warehouse with Orochimaru.

Orochimaru's eyes widened in surprise, but he caught himself and hid behind Sakura, using her as a human shield.

"Coward." Sasuke growled, kicking the light blue haired man who was lying on the ground. Just a minute ago this man had tried to tie Sasuke to chair.

"Haha, sorry," Orochimaru hissed, "But when facing death, I don't care if I am a coward or not."

Sasuke frowned in disgust as he cocked the gun and pointed it at Orochimaru's head.

He hid further behind Sakura. Sakura was blind folded and only half conscious. She could hear Sasuke's voice and yet she showed no sign of recognition.

"Sakura?" Sasuke whispered.

Suddenly the door burst open. Sasuke glanced back, keeping an eye on Orochimaru. The intruders turned out to be Itachi and Kakashi, along with some henchmen.

"Orochimaru, you have gone too far this time." Itachi said coldly, "You need to let the girl go."

Orochimaru laughed in their faces. "I guess I'll just grab onto this girl and never let her go then, huh."

"Kakashi." Sasuke said, "Hand me your weapon."

Kakashi glanced down at his rifle and made no comment. He tossed it to Sasuke without another word.

Orochimaru shifted behind Sakura, making sure all his vitals were protected by Sakura's tiny fragile body.

Sasuke aimed it at Orochimaru.

"What are you going to do, Sasuke? Shoot me? You can't kill me with one bu-"

BAM!

The bullet was fired with pinpoint accuracy and Orochimaru was dead before he hit the ground. It pierced though Sakura's collar bone and into Orochimaru's heart.

Sasuke dropped the rifle and pried Sakura's limp body away from Orochimaru's cold hands.

She was heavily sedated. Her eye lashes fluttered and she saw an image of Sasuke in front of her eyes.

"Ambulance, Kakashi, call an ambulance!" Itachi ordered Kakashi, who immediately began to dial.

Sakura felt warm, for the first time these past few years. Sasuke hugged her tightly, his hands trembling.

"You trusted me," he whispered.

"Always," she muttered.

Then, she fell into the darkness.

22.

Sakura woke up in a very elaborate room, covered in Christmas decorations. The curtains were red, stockings hung above the fire place and there are little dangling bells everywhere.

She looked outside and realized it had begun to snow.

Sasuke was beside her, sleeping soundly.

Sakura struggled to get up and her movement woke him. She watched as his eyes opened. He was overjoyed that she had woken up.

"Sakura," he said, "Did you sleep ok?"

"Yes," she muttered. "Is it snowing outside?"

"Yes."

"Where are we?"

"In... Uchiha Manor."

Sakura laid her head down on her pillow and asked, "Was this your home?"

"Yes..."

"What happened to me?"

"Collar wound. It's healing."

"Alright," she sighed.

Her throat constricted as she asked, "Is Orochimaru dead?"

"Quite." Sasuke wrapped his arms around her, "What would you like to do?"

Silence ensued.

Sasuke looked at her and saw Sakura put the back of her hand on her eyes and whisper, "I would like to go to sleep."

A string of liquid rolled down her cheeks. Sasuke kissed them away and they tasted salty, like tears.

"Alright." Sasuke said.

He hugged tightly her as they both drift into dreamland.

END

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><p>AN: Ok I have to admit. The ending is rushed and it's weak. I was really tired out and I ran out of ideas for this story. The next story is going to be good…I think. I hope you guys will like it.


	4. Dichotomy

A/N:Thank you to SakuraakaMichelle for beta-ing this~^^

I think my classes are weighing me down… I've been writing too much dark stuff…We talked about the relation of violence in romances, how women seems to fantasize violence, yet having complete control in the end.

I am ashamed this is another piece of violence in romance.

This story is about how Sasuke was given to Princess Sakura as a gift. From that moment on, he was her slave.

Please enjoy.

* * *

><p><strong> Dichotomy<strong>

* * *

><p>1.<p>

He stood at the entrance of her room as the sun shone in her face. There were blood splatters and wounds everywhere on his body, but he did not seem to mind. His face turned into a grin as he walked towards her with a sword in one hand.

"Sa-ku-ra..." he whispered her name in slow syllables as if each syllable was a precious gift from her to him.

Sakura did not move, because she was the only Haruno left in this country, and so she must be brave. The burden was too much for her to bear, but too trivial for her to commit suicide for. She replayed the most important aspects of her life over and over in her head, and found that she has got nothing and no one to blame but herself.

She closed her eyes as she waited for death to approach, taking in the form of the boy she has loved all her life.  
>Maybe, she would be happy now.<p>

2.

Sasuke was a birthday present for little Sakura when she turned nine years old.

Sakura's father was a king of this country, and he was a good king. This King has a habit of often going to the countryside to live for a few days. He always brought back something interesting for Sakura, and this time, he has brought back a live human boy.

The King introduced this castle as his home when Sasuke first came, and then he was in the hands of Sakura.  
>Sakura obviously did not think so. In her opinion, this castle was her home, and no lowly servant boy should be able to call this castle his.<p>

Sasuke had a gleaming look upon his face when he first saw the castle, a look that was extremely uncomfortable to Sakura. So when the King turned his back, she took him to her chamber and used a whip and slashed him 10 times  
>She was only nine at the time, so her slashes did not hurt as much. But to a ten-year-old Sasuke, a head strong boy, those slashes meant something for him. His pride has been beaten down to pieces and pieces.<br>In his little heart, he understood that from now on, this little girl was his master, and he must follow her rule and obeying her every command.

He remembered that day firmly for the rest of his life, the day when he first met Sakura, and when he was whipped.

3.

Sakura was not an evil girl by nature. She was just a little spoiled, and she took what belonged to her very seriously. And in her mind, this beautiful boy, with the darkest hair she has ever seen, belonged to her.

Dark hair symbolized slavery. In this country, people with black hair were considered impure, subhuman. So those with dark hair were slaves and these slaves under the sun were for those with fair hair.

Sakura was a princess by birth. She has never known life outside the castle, and she has never seen someone dark haired. So when she saw Sasuke, her first instinct was to shrink away in disgust.

Sasuke caught that look in her eyes. It felt like a dagger stabbing into his little heart.

A little while later, Sakura was willing to play with Sasuke, and placed her hand in his hair and wondered to herself, _how could one's hair be so dark?_

They played in the gardens together. She was always the one being chased, hidden, and hunted. He has the upper hand when they were playing games like this. Once, Sakura slapped Sasuke for being so fast at chasing her. He caught her in less than a minute, which is hardly pleasing for her.

Once she ran to the Court and hid behind her mother, and Sasuke found her right away. The Queen invited Sasuke to join them and have some tea. Sakura had to endure the humiliation of scolding from her mother, and praises to Sasuke.

Later that day she ran back to her room with Sasuke following closely behind.

"Sakura-hime…" Sasuke spoke.

She turned around and slapped him before he could express anything else.

The King happened to walk by and punished Sakura severely for slapping Sasuke, but Sasuke remembered in his heart that he would chase her for the rest of his life.

4.

Sakura refused to see Sasuke when she was released out of her groundings. She was grounded for a week in her room when her father caught her slapping Sasuke. When she came out of her room, Sasuke was standing obediently by the side of her door, and waited for her next punishment or game.

She walked past him without sparing him even a glance. Her pride was wounded because of him, so she needed to gain it all back by purposely ignoring him until he felt sorry.

She walked to the South garden where all nobles usually took their leisurely strolls. They bowed when they saw the princess, and frowned at the slave boy behind her. Words of hisses went through Sakura's ears; "That boy has no education, he's so dirty! He's absolutely filthy! Why is the princess playing with a dumb brute like him?"

Sakura ran to a secluded part of the garden, while Sasuke quickly followed.

"Sasuke."

"Yes, Sakura-hime?" He asked in a usual suppressed and polite tone.

Then she landed a series of punch upon his little body. Truth to be told, the princess did not punch that hard, but the fact that Sasuke must take the punching was more humiliating to him more than anything else. After she finished punching him, she sat on his abdomen and asked him seriously, "Do you want to go to school?"

He was dumbfounded.

So Sasuke was subjected to eight hours of schooling every day with all the other noble born boys. He should thank Sakura for this opportunity, because without schooling, what happened next may just be a dream.

5.

Sakura caught her father cheating on her mother with a mistress. She was 13 at the time.

It was a rainy day when Sakura found her father in bed with another woman, and she was furious. She screamed and yelled at her father, then said, "I'm going to tell mother immediately-!"

Haruno, who had never raised a hand against anyone, slapped his dear little daughter. Sakura did not cry. She looked at his with the most hallowed out eyes he has ever seen, and he quickly turned away and locked the door from inside, because that look suddenly terrified him.

Sakura stood in the rain for a few minutes, and then returned to her chambers. Sasuke was reading books when she walked in, he quickly ran up to her and used a towel to dry her off. But he soon discovered that her eyes could never be dry.

He panicked. In truth he has never seen her cry in his entire life. This was the first time, and it made him felt like he was the one at fault, and he should have done better

.  
>"F... father doesn't love me any more..." She sobbed in his arms and whispered over and over.<p>

He highly doubted that, but he knew from the beginning that Haruno was taking in mistresses. This one was the heir to a foreign country with a strong backbone army. So in an attempt to strength his own county, Haruno took in another woman in his bed. Everybody knew this except for the poor princess.

Sakura did not tell her mother, the queen because her mother has a terminal illness, and she is going to die soon.  
>The image of her father's mistress was imprinted on her brain. She had flaming red hair and fox like eyes. Sakura decided that one day, when she was older, she would kill that woman.<p>

6.

Sakura visited her mother frequently. She often brought little gifts such as cakes and flowers. The queen is terribly ill, but Sakura did not seem to acknowledge that fact.

She acted like the perfect little daughter in front of her mother, because she believes her mother is the strongest and most beautiful person in the entire world. She can shield Sakura from father's harsh words with only her arms. Her smile is the highest praise for Sakura, and thus Sakura worked really hard to see that rare smile.

Sakura did not tell the Queen about the King's mistress.

But sometimes, when Sakura falls asleep in her mother's arms, she would always imagine what father is doing at the moment, probably in the arms of another woman.

This brought unspeakable anger and sadness in Sakura's heart; anger for the cowardice of her father, and sadness for the cluelessness of her mother.

The Queen would always stroke Sakura's hair and tell her about the duty of being a princess. There are heavy burdens and responsibilities.

A princess is to never behave unkindly or rude.

A princess has to always be dressed as presentable.

A princess must be intelligent and educated.

A princess has her duty to her people and her country; therefore she must never abandon them.

Sakura remembered every single word.

7.

The Queen died.

On her deathbed, she held onto Sakura's hand and told her to always be a good girl.

Sakura fell apart and broke down crying. She could not bring herself to tell the Queen about the mistress, about how her father had not been faithful to her.

The Queen merely smiled, and said, "Sakura, just be happy. Promise me you will be happy."

At that moment, the Queen is not the Queen. She is merely a mother. She taught Sakura so many things on being a princess, but she selfishly hoped her daughter would find happiness above all else.

Then she passed away.

Sakura was 15 at the time.

Sasuke has been made a general's second-in-command. So he often went galloping in to battle fields and rarely came home to his princess anymore. When the Queen died, Sakura was alone on her bed. She didn't cry this time. Instead she went to Sasuke's room, which was connected to hers, and took a sword of his.

She then carried the sword all the way from East wing to West wing, where that red-haired woman lived.

She did not see the red haired women at first, because she was greeted by a red haired girl. The girl resembled her mother so much that it disgusted Sakura.

"Where is your mother?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know, Sakura-hime," She said obediently.

"Who is your father? It's not the same as mine, right?"

"I do not know, hime."

"What's your name?"

"Karin, Sakura-hime."

Sakura held the sword in her hand, and pondered. "Karin, what a pretty name."

The red-haired girl didn't say anything. Sakura commanded her, "I'm looking for your mother, tell me where she is!"

Karin knelt down out of fear, "I'm afraid I can't do that, miss."

Sakura thought for a moment, and said, "I don't like you. You are prettier than I am. I am going to make you ugly."  
>Then she took that flame red hair of Karin's, and chopped them all up to pieces.<p>

Karin knelt in shame as this happened, and she didn't utter out a single word. Sakura then used a small dagger that Sasuke picked out for her, and carved the word, "WHORE" on Karin's left cheek. Karin did not make a single sound.  
>Sakura laughed as she saw the hatred in Karin's eyes, "That's how I feel about your mother." She hissed to Karin. "Now you can take it all for her. But I am going to kill her anyways."<p>

8.

Haruno grounded Sakura for a month. When she came out, she was forced to apologize sincerely to Karin. Sakura was brought up to Karin in front of Haruno, whom had thought that this was going to be quite hard, making Sakura apologizing to Karin. But to his surprise, Sakura apologized in the most sincere voice, "I am very, very sorry, Karin. Please forgive me?"

Karin was at a loss for words.

That was until a maid rushed in while yelling, "Your majesty! Miss, mistress, she... She..."

Sakura has killed that woman just like she had intended; she commanded Sasuke to force that vile of poison down her throat and watched as she writhe in agony.

Now she watched coldly as Karin fell apart in front her, and she broke down crying and crying and crying.

"Your grief is nothing compared to mine." Sakura said, and turned away back to her room. She was suspended from leaving her room for the next six month.

9.

Sasuke came back from the battle field when Sakura was still grounded. He came back home as a hero, as a warrior who has never lost a battle.

The first thing he did after reporting to the king was to go check on Sakura. She was so happy to see him that she jumped in his arms and he twirled her around, over and over.

She told him about everything.

"I killed that woman, Sasuke. I thought I would be happy. When I saw the look on Karin's face, I was happy for a few days. But now I'm not happy, Sasuke. I'm not happy..."

Sasuke smoothed out Sakura's hair as he said gently, "It's all right. It's all alright. We have all done bad things, but that does not mean we are bad people."

She laid in his arms and said wistfully, "I wish we could turn back time to back when I was young. We were so happy, so happy..."

Sasuke didn't say anything. He usually didn't when he disagreed with her.

10.

Sasuke has less and less time to see Sakura now. The King thought very highly of Sasuke, because he could be a promising new general that could save the entire country with his superb fighting skills and charismatic leadership, and so the King entrusted his army to Sasuke. He hoped for Sasuke to rebuild it, train more new talents, and make it undefeatable against the other nations.

On the summer when Sakura was 17, she ran to the army to find Sasuke. Unfortunately Sasuke was still training new soldiers, so out of consideration, Sakura didn't bother him. She stood behind the tent and watched as the soldiers on the field each has the most defiant look on their faces, and they shone with absolute loyalty to Sasuke.

When the training was dismissed, Sakura was about to jump out and scare Sasuke, but a shadow was faster than her. She watched in horror as Karin emerged from inside the tent, and handed Sasuke with a jar of water. He took it willingly and drank.

Sakura watched as he hugged her, and watched as she blushed, and watched as he smoothed out Karin's hair, just like he did to her. She returned to her chambers very quietly, but inside, she's screaming.

11.

Sakura waited, and waited. She did nothing except sitting on her bed and waited for his arrival. He did not appear that day nor the day after that. Not even the day after that. She counted days. It's been around 5 days since he last saw her. They were rarely separated this long when both were still living in the castle. How come he wasn't here?  
>But she knew too well why he was't here. He was with Karin.<p>

That fact alone was so painfully excruciating, it almost drove her insane. But she remained perfectly calm as she waited patiently.

Sasuke came to see her on the 6th day, when Sakura was caressing the small dagger that carved the word "WHORE" into Karin's left cheek.

"Sakura-hime?" Sasuke asked tentitively, "How are you?"

Sakura turned around and smiled, "Sasuke-kun. I haven't seen you in a long time."

"I have been a little busy," he said in slight embarrassment.

Sakura shook her head and said, "It's completely fine. I should be thanking you for doing this to our country."

"It's my pleasure." He said, a little emotionless.

Sakura offered him a drink, "Aren't you thirsty? Training all day in the sun..."

He was unconscious before he even finished that drink.

12.

Sasuke woke up on a bed, and he was completely tied up. Sakura stood by the bed post and she was holding onto a whip. He remained quite calm as she smiled, "You're up."

"Why?" he asked, looking at her a little warily.

Sakura slashed towards him, and he didn't flinch. She whipped him exactly ten times, just like how they first met. Except she was much stronger than her ten-year-old self, and they actually did hurt.

"Sakura," he said wearily, "You've had your fun. Can you untie me now? Your father has an army that I've got to train."

Sakura was furious. She took that dagger and ripped his clothes apart, and she carved the word "SAKURA" on his chest, where his heart was.

"You are mine!" Sakura screamed, almost going mad.

Sasuke remained in silence.

"Now you know what this is about?" She laughed. "Why did you run to that little whore? Did she give you what I couldn't? Did you guys lay together?"

Sasuke continued to remain silent. Sakura was furious, she slapped him, punched him, but he wouldn't say anything.  
>Finally she's all tired out, she sat on his bare stomachs and laid her head against his chest. The freshly made wound above his heart was still bleeding a little. She licked the blood away.<p>

"Tell me you love me." Sakura commanded him.

He closed his eyes and did not say anything.

"Tell me!" She slapped him.

He opened his eyes slowly, coldness poured out of his dark, onyx like eyes. She took the dagger and ripped the rest of his clothes apart, until he was completely naked in front of her.

She then used every trick she has ever read in a book to make him erect, and took off all her clothes, and forced him into her body. Both of then screamed out. One in agony and one in pleasure.

Sakura had never imagined it would hurt this bad. She wondered if she was doing this right, and the thought of Sasuke doing this with Karin made her even more agitated. She sat down further, until she completely swallowed him up.

There's no pleasure between them. Just endless hatred, longing, and painful love. The process ended soon, and he came inside her, while she was still mourning over her pain. He saw her blood, and realized this was her first time.  
>It was his first time, too. But he was never going to tell her that.<p>

She was shaking when she stood up, and she cut the ropes that tied him to the bedpost. She collapsed on her bed as Sasuke rolled out and jumped away from her, as if running away from something extremely dirty. He saw her wrapping herself inside the covers when he walked out. He could tell that she was shaking.

13.

War broke out.

Karin's mother was the heir of a foreign country. Haruno had her as his mistress for a reason. Now that country was waiting for Karin to go back and claim her throne, but she refused to leave Sasuke.

Meanwhile, Sasuke planned all this. He has the support of his own allies and the support of a foreign country. So he rebelled against Haruno. The entire coup was quite quick and painless. After Sasuke took the head of Haruno, he asked if anyone else would like to join him in death. Nobody answered, and so Sasuke became the king.

The first thing he did was to arrange the marriage between him and Karin. He needed as much foreign support as possible, and to do that he must stabilize the situation. Nothing calmed people down more than a wedding.

Sakura was locked away in the dungeon. She was not sentenced to death; Instead, Sasuke locked her away in a cold, dark room that smelt like mold. Sakura stood in her room as Sasuke came in to her room. She was dressed in formal attire; her clothes were so red it seemed like blood.

Sasuke was holding a sword in his hand, and he said to her, "Kneel down before me and beg for your life, then I would let you live."

She laughed in his face. And that was how she ended up in here. She was extremely quiet. She drank only water and ate very little. Her meal portions were small and far apart. Her skin became pale white from the lack of sunshine. She got thinner and thinner by the day.

Karin visited her once. She only said two sentences. The first one was, "Sasuke-kun and I are getting married tomorrow."

Then second one, "I am going to kill you someday."

And then she used a dagger to carve the word "BITCH" on Sakura's forehead. Sakura remained silent all the time. She closed her eyes and dreamt of her mother. In her dream her mother was quite young, and she had the laughter in her eyes that did not yet die away. She asked the tiny Sakura, "Baby, are you happy?"

"Yes!" the tiny Sakura yelled out.

"It's very hard to be happy in a royal family, because there are too many responsibilities…" Sakura's mother first looked into the distance, as if remembering something quite painful. She soon smiled at Sakura again "You must find someone that brings you happiness above all else, and hold on tight to that person. Never let him go."

Now in a cold and empty cell, everything that she did to others was reflected back upon her. The burden of being responsible to one's country was too much that it's eating her alive. She thought back to her mother's expression and words, wondering if the Queen knew all along that her husband is sleeping with other women to stabilize this kingdom. Does that mean she was the only one playing as the fool—as the person who felt sorry for someone who doesn't even feel sorry about herself and the person who felt anger for some one who was already extremely angry at himself.

This is what you have to sacrifice—she can see it more clearly now.

The pressure of holding up an entire country of people was crushing her down to pieces and pieces. She could have escaped, somehow or the other. She could have ran away and relive her life, so she does not have to endure this painful humiliation. The position is flipped. She is the slave and he the King.

By being a princess, there are too many things she has done and now regret. Now some pressure was released off of her, when she is merely a slave and received the same punishment she handed down to others.

_Are you happy now, Sakura? Are you happy?___

"Yes, mother." Sakura whispered, tears fell from her eyes, they clouded her vision.

Inside this tiny and moldy cell, she has found her freedom.

* * *

><p>AN: Mhmm… sequal? Depend on the feedbacks I suppose..


	5. The Art of Sorrow

A/N:Thank you to... someone for betaing this. I forgot who beta-ed this, there was no set single beta for this story yet. Depends on how it plays on.

I have decided to do a sequel for Dichotomy in the future, when my muse comes back to me. I know for sure that I will do it, because that story came from a dream of mine. I dreamt a scene in which Sasuke was standing in front of jail bars, looking inside at Sakura, who was wearing very formal and elaborate dresses, but it was very dirty and messy...

Anyways. This is a new story!

This story will span at least 6 or 7 chapters.

Basic summary is: If all Naruto characters were tossed in another ninja world, would the same tragedies play on over and over again?

Please enjoy, and thank you.

Note: "a cup of rain" is resuming in a few hours. Please check out that story. Thank you~

* * *

><p><strong>The Art of Sorrow<strong>

* * *

><p>1.<p>

Sakura's parents died when she was just a little girl, and she barely had a memory of them.

She was taken care of by Tsunade-sama, a healing goddess. Tsunade took on many names in many places such as "the crimson goddess" in the Fire Country. Unfortunately Tsunade had a bad habit of gambling and drinking, so it was up to Sakura to fend off all the debt collectors and create various names for her.

Sakura had just reached her teenage years, when Tsunade decided that it was time for Sakura to begin training her defense techniques, so that she might have a chance in the real world. Tsunade knew it was time for her to learn more than healing jutsus, after all, she couldn't care for Sakura forever. There would come a time when she would want her freedom.

So Tsunade took Sakura to Mount Sage, where Tsunade was first trained by the Great Sage.

First, she contacted her old friends, Orochimaru and Jiraiya, and invited them out to have a drink. And while they caught up, Tsunade told them about Sakura, and asked if any one of them to take care of her.

Orochimaru was not very interested, "Does she have any special bloodlines?"

Tsunade thought for a moment, and said, "Well, she is diligent and efficient."

"Then no, I have got my hands full with a pair of Uchiha boys." Orochimaru said.

Jiraiya proclaimed, "I'll take her!"

Tsunade glanced at Jiraiya, and then glared at the man. "No! I don't want my dear pupil to loose her virginity before she becomes of age,"

So Sakura was shoved to Orochimaru, who made a solemn promise to never touch her, never to discriminate her, never to bully her, and always taking care of her.

Far, far in to the future, when Sakura asks Jiraiya, 'Why is Tsunade able to wobble around the world, without responsibilities, while the two male apprentices have to stay in Mount Sage?' Jiraiya laughs and says, 'Back when we were just little boys and girls, Sarutobi-sama, our old sensai, always favored girls over boys. He said that girls are made from water, so they should be treated with love and kindness. Boys are made from mud, and should be treated as such. So when we all grew up, Sarutobi-sama granted Tsunade the permission to do whatever she wanted, and we two male sanins were left behind to labour our arses off by training new talents.' She didn't think it fair.

It wasn't the first time that Sakura wished that she could have been with Jiraiya and Naruto instead of...

But that's all for later.

Sakura stood by at the top of the Heaven Stairs while she said goodbye to Tsunade. Her eyes became watery and her face scrunched up in to a frown, "Sensei..."

Tsunade patted Sakura's head, and tied her pink hair up with a red headband. "Be brave, Sakura. When you're 21, come and find me. I will have something waiting for you."

Then Tsunade left without another word. Sakura knew that she would find trouble, where ever she went. But Sakura also knew that she would help people beyond measure on her travels.

Wind blew by, Sakura cried silently on the top of the stairs, her shoulders shook while Tsunade turned into a tiny dot in her eye, and eventually disappeared.

2.

Mount Sage was a mountain so high it was practically hidden in clouds. Up top was a small village, and further up was the training temples for shinobis. This Moutain was found by Sarutobi-sama, who was the greatest Shinobi in the world. Perhaps he still was, but he has retired from society, and secluded himself to teaching young shinobis so high on a mountain that any normal person would suffocate.

Throughout Sarutobi-sama's life, he had had five pupils. Two of them vanished, know one had heard from them in years. And the last three has grown and became the legendary Sanins.

One Sanin left Sage Mountain to fulfill her dream of spreading medical knowledge and healing throughout the world, and the other two sanin's stayed behind in Mount Sage to continue to train new shinobis.

Due to increasing conflicts between Orochimaru and Jiraiya, Sarutobi decide to split the massive temple in to two sections. The East side belongs to Jiraiya and his students, while the West belongs to Orochimaru and his students. While in the center was Sarutobi-sama's residence, and every week there was a grand lecture that took place in the Main Hall, and everybody was required to attend.

There are various levels of suffix in the Heaven temple. Sarutobi is referee to as Sarutobi-sama, and Orochimaru and Jiraiya are revered to as senseis. The next in line came with few older students of the senseis and refer to them as "San", as in, "Pein-San". Most of older students have already completed their training and were now wandering around the world, in their experience period, while the rest of the students were all still training.

When students reached the age of 21, then they are shooed off down the mountain and into the real world for a period of 5 years, and they could come back after the period ended, if they so chose. Currently, the only student of Orochimaru who came back was Kabuto-San. And the students that came back from Jiraiya's side was Kakashi-San, Gai-San, and Kureinai-San.

These four were the only ones who qualified to teach beside Sarutobi-sama and the Sanins. It was usually what happened, because the Sanins only rarely involved themselves in teaching. Since there were older students who were willing to teach in place of them.

And that's how Sakura's life began.

3.

when she first met Sarutobi-Sama, Orochimaru-sensei was taking her to her room when they stumbled upon an old geezer who was trying to dig a hole through the garden.

"Sensei," Orochimaru frowned slightly, "this is the girl that Tsunade asked me to take care of."

Sarutobi stood up straight and dusted off his robes, then walked right up to Sakura and eyed her carefully.

"A sad little soul." He commented at last, and waved them off, "go on, go on, don't disturb my digging."

Sakura followed Orochimaru and looked around eagerly.

This place seemed to be perpetually in mists and clouds. There are little stone path that paved their way through the temple, and beside the paths were little bushes and garden flowers.

There were also rocks in different variations and sizes beside the paths, some looks like animals. Sakura noticed there were little signs that were standing in every intersection of the stone paths, and they pointed to each place in the Heaven Temple.

Sakura also heard some swooshing sounds, where shinobis were moving fast like lighting. Orochimaru didn't seem to mind, but Sakura stuck a little closer to him.

"Orochimaru-sensei, how many people are there in Heaven Temple?"

"About a hundred," he answered emotionlessly.

"Where are we going?"

"We are going to see Kabuto, and he will arrange everything for you."

Sakura sensed that Orochimaru rather disliked talking, so she shut up.

"Sensei." A voice said behind them.

Both turned around, and Sakura found herself staring into the face of the most beautiful boy she had ever seen.

"Ah, Itachi. Just the person I was looking for. Now, this is your new Kouhai, Sakura. Now take her to Kabuto." Orochimaru ordered.

The boy called Itachi nodded politely, and then said, "Kabuto-sensei said he would like to speak with you after dinner."

Orochimaru chuckled, "depends on what's for dinner."

Then he left, disappearing into the mist.

Itachi was still quite emotionless, and Sakura whimpered out a "S...Sempai?"

Itachi turned to look at her, his lips then curved very slightly and he said, "well, Sakura-chan, shall we go-"

"Aniki!" a voice yelled behind them.

They both looked towards that direction, and Sakura's jaw almost unhinged itself.

What was this place? a Breeding ground for super hot shinobis? She was sure Itachi was the most beautiful boy she had ever seen, until she laid eyes on this one.

"Sasuke-chan?" Itachi tilted his head and grinned.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, "I told you not to call me that! Who is this?"

"Oh, this is our new Kouhai. Her name is Sakura."

Sasuke glanced at her, then said to Itachi, "Aniki, please spar with me,"

"I have to send Sakura-chan to Kabuto-sensei first."

Sasuke frowned deeper, and said, "fine, fine, but come to number 9 tomorrow morning!"

Itachi smiled and said, "alright."

Sasuke left them then.

Sakura stared in the direction that Sasuke ran off in, and a strange feeling washed over her. As if for the first time ever, she was conscious of herself.

Itachi eyed the girl in amusement as he led her to Kabuto's room.

And so concluded the first meeting of Sakura and Sasuke. For Sakura, it was a time stopping, earth shattering moment, for she knew right at that moment that she is going to marry that boy.

For Sasuke, he forgot her the moment he turned around.

4.

Kabuto put Sakura in a room by the Uchiha brothers. He figured since Tsunade gave Orochimaru the girl, she must be fairly important. After all, the only other student that had ever been brought back by Tsunade was around 15 years ago, and her name was Shizune. Now Shizune was wandering around the world, god knew where.

Kabuto told Itachi to look after Sakura, and Itachi in turn told Sasuke to look after Sakura.

She was kind of speechless. She felt like a toy that had been handed down step by step. Now they all avoided the burden of teaching her, while they put the responsibility on the boy that was only a year older than her.

Thus concluded her first day at Heaven Temple.

She laid on the small bed in her simple small room that consisted of only a bed, a table and a chair.

A couple of hours later, Sasuke came in and put a tray of food on her table, and left without a word. He was so quiet she almost didn't hear him. Maybe that was the point.

Five hours in Heaven Temple she was already super bored. She missed the old days where night signified the beginning of drinking and gambling. She would go around and keep count of all the money while Tsunade got drunk. There was always endless amounts of problems to take care of when beside Tsunade. Now it seemed everybody up on Mount Sage was simply here for training and didn't really care for living life.

Worst of all, when Kabuto asked her what her ability was, she could only whisper, "nothing."

And it was true. She had nothing.

"Really?" Kabuto raised an eyebrow, "not even medical training?"

"Yes, but only a little." Sakura said, "I don't have any training in regards of being a Shinobi..."

Kabuto adjust his glasses and laughed, "nobody expects you to be one, love. Itachi-san will look after you."

Sakura wondered why Kabuto was adding a suffix behind Itachi's name, because in order of sequence, Kabuto came before Itachi.

She found out why later.

Sakura couldn't stop thinking about the boy she met, Sasuke.

5.

Sakura was woken up by the sound of knocking on her little cabin's door. She struggled to get up and opened it, and she came face to face with a slightly pissed off Sasuke.

"Get up, come to breakfast. We need to start training soon." he said, then left.

Sakura didn't want to make a bad first impression, so she quickly scrambled to get dressed. While her attire was simply under garments with some accessories and a outside robe, it took her almost 5 minutes to get the robe on right. Then she walked out of her door too see the Uchiha brothers were waiting for her.

"Uh, sorry." She quickly said, blushing furiously.

Itachi tilted his head and smiled slightly, "It's alright. Let's go."

So Sakura followed them to the West Cafeteria, where most west side students were eating breakfast. The cafeteria consisted of series of small tables and some large rectangular tables. Both Sasuke and Itachi took a small table, they sat Sakura down while they went to get breakfast.

Sakura was soon confronted by a couple of guys. There was a white haired man who asked Sakura, "are you new? What's your name?"

"I'm Sakura." Sakura said timidly.

He smiled and said, "I'm Sugeitsu. I've been here for 7 years now. What about you?"

"Uh. I've been here 17 hours." Sakura said.

"Hey, this guy here is Jugo, and he's really friendly." Sugeitsu pointed at the big buff looking giant behind him.

"That's nice..." Sakura whimpered.

"Sugeitsu, Jugo." Itachi said behind them, "leave her alone."

Sugeitsu's expression changed when he saw Itachi. He scowled and glanced at Sakura, then he dragged Jugo away.

It had come to Sakura's attention that people sort of stopped what they were doing and stared at the Uchiha brothers while they were both present. Some looks at them with fear, some look at them with admiration, and some even look at them with disgust. Sakura didn't know why they were treated so different, because apparently, other than the extraordinary good looks those two have, everything else were the same.

But she soon learned she was wrong.

They had breakfast in silence. Itachi was the more gentle one, and he asked Sakura about how she slept, and asked her to come to him and Sasuke if there was anything that troubled her. While Sasuke just frowned at Sakura.

They finished their breakfast first, and Sakura had too scramble to catch up.

After breakfast, the Uchiha brothers led her to a training ground that was labeled "nine".

"Sakura-chan," Itachi begin, "I will have a little spar with Sasuke first, tell me if you can see us."

Sakura stood dumbfoundedly at the side training ground while the two brothers moved so fast in the mist it looked like they were nothing more than blurs and shadows.

Meanwhile there were kunais and shrunkins that they had thrown towards each other, but all Sakura saw was shadows dancing back and forth.

Then it occurred to her that she was never going to catch up.

Her lips pursed as the two brothers spared with each other for almost half an hour when Itachi held a hand up and stopped the fight. She has a feeling that Sasuke had forgotten her existence.

"Sakura-chan," Itachi said to Sakura, "did you understand?"

"Noooo!" Sakura wailed.

Itachi was apparently out of ideas too. He looked to Sasuke and asked, "what do you suggest we do?"

Sasuke looked annoyed, but he immediately thought of an idea, "we can make her run around the training grounds. If she can lap the entire grounds in less than 30 seconds then we can start training her."

Itachi nodded, "you're right, Sakura, try gathering your Chakra in your feet and lap this training ground."

Sakura realized in horror that they were not kidding.

So Sakura stood by the edge and ran lap after lap around the one thousand meter training ground while watching the two brothers fighting like shadows.

And that basically concluded Sakura's first day there. She ran all day.

Although it was mostly speed walking, in her oppinion.

6.

The next morning, Sakura woke before Sasuke knocked n her door. She shoveled breakfast down as quickly as she could and was making to run to the door when Itachi called out to her, "Sakura! Today is Monday. Sarutobi-sama's lecture is today."

Sakura nodded dumbly as she followed the two brothers to the Main hall, looking around in astonishment upon entering. There had to be over a hundred students gathered in the hall, seated in rows as straight as a ruler. Sakura sat with Sasuke and Itachi at the end of a row. It was absolutely, utterly silent.

The old man Sakura had seen a few days ago came to the front of the room, sitting in a comfortable-looking chair and beginning to speak. Sakura looked around as he spoke; every student there was younger than twenty-one years old, she knew. Some looked... really weird. There were kids with orange hair, others with red. _But_, she thought with an inward chuckle_, I'm pretty much the only one with pink hair._

The old man first talked about the ways of a shinobi, then droned on and on about _patience_, _virtue_, andhow _love always conquers against hatred_. Sakura soon fell asleep.

Who could blame her? She usually slept as late as possible when training with Tsunade, who always drank and gambled at night.

This new lifestyle was killing her.

Suddenly a great, rumbling voice bellowed, "Who is that? Is she _sleeping_ during my lecture?"

Sasuke hissed next to Sakura, pinching her forearm. Sakura jolted up, blushing as she saw that everyone was staring at her.

"Whose student is that?" Sarutobi demanded.

"She's mine, sensei." Orochimaru, who was seated at the side of the hall, stood and continued, "Tsunade brought her from home a few days ago."

Sarutobi's eyes grew far away, seeming to fall into a deep trance. "Ah, Tsunade, dear. How is the little girl?"

Sakura wanted to gasp - Tsunade was at least 50! But then again, she knew from experience that Tsunade-sama did not have a birthday - and it was very wrong of anyone to accuse her of having one.

Sasuke pinched her again, bringing Sakura back to the Main Hall. She started, realizing that the question was directed at _her_.

"Oh, right," she sat up in her chair, clearing her throat and quickly rattling off the verse Tsunade had instructed her to recite when strangers asked her what the Crimson Princess was doing nowadays. "Tsunade-sensei is very kind. She heals all kinds of ill patients and is working for the good of the people…"

But she forgot that Mount Sage was where Tsunade originated, and some people there were not strangers. Even before she finished her speech, booming laughters erupted from the smiling mouths of both Jiraiya and Sarutobi.

"Is that what she tells the world nowadays?" Sarutobi cried, clutching his sides and laughing so hard he fell out of his chair. Jiraiya wiped tears from his eyes, sighing in amusement. Orochimaru was chuckling a little himself, though not in such an exaggerated way as his teacher and former teammate. Sakura blushed furiously, feeling embarrassed somehow.

"Alright, alright," Sarutobi said finally after three minutes of laughing, "Sakura, welcome to Heaven Temple. Just… be sure to listen next time."

Just as the old man finished speaking, a loud complaint burst from an orange shinobi.

"Hey! Sarutobi! Why does _she_ get let off so easily when _she_ falls asleep, but _I_ had to be punished?"

Oh – pardon Sakura; she didn't mean to say an _orange_ ninja. His skin tone wasn't orange. In fact, his skin was just about the only thing on him that _wasn't_ orange.

"Silence! Naruto, you are a boy! Quit complaining and man up!" Sarutobi reprimanded, flicking a piece of bread in the orange shinobi's – Naruto's, Sakura amended – direction. The boy immediately fell silent.

The lecture went on.

7.

The _real_ fun came after the lecture was finished.

As it turned out, there was a tradition in effect: Every Monday after the lectures, a mini tournament of some sort was held, where each student of under the age of twenty-one could challenge any other student in the Temple. The challenge had to be accepted for the fight to take place.

But the teacher challenges always took place first. And, as always, the fights began with a challenge between Hatake Kakashi and Might Gai.

Sakura sat fairly close to Itachi, asking questions so often that Itachi was muttering a commentary in Sakura's ear as the fight drew on.

"Kakashi-sensei's skills lie in his eyes. He has much experience with the Sharingan and has witnessed many things in the outside world. They say he has mastered a thousand jutsus."

Sakura gasped. "Really? Won't his brain… explode?"

"Silly Sakura," Itachi chuckled. "Now, Gai-sensei excels in taijutsu. He is used to fighting against the Sharingan, so he knows to keep his eyes down at Kakashi-sensei's feet. See?"

Sakura nodded. Itachi was right; Gai-sensei kept his eyes carefully trained at Kakshi's feet almost the entire duration of the fight.

Soon the battle ended. Both parties were out of breath and Kakashi-sensei wanted to go pee. So, with the teacher challenges finished, the battles between students began.

Kabuto, in a bored voice, drawled, "Uzumaki Naruto has challenged Uchiha Sasuke."

Everyone's eyes shifted towards Sasuke as he strode onto the large stage, where Naruto was already standing, confidently shouting, "You are _so_ going down!"

Sakura heard ripples of whispers amongst the spectators. "Why is he always challenging that Uchiha kid? Geez! Doesn't he know any better by now?"

Sakura leaned closer to Itachi, asking, "Itachi-san, why is Naruto always challenging Sasuke-kun?"

"It's sort of like a tradition between them, I suppose. Sasuke may not look it, but he is quite happy with being challenged."

"Why?"

"Because he can show off his new skills."

"The skilled he learned from you?"

Itachi chuckled with a sly, "Watch."

Sakura obeyed, turning her attention to the fight. Naruto certainly wasn't weak, but lacked patience compared to Sasuke, which put him in disadvantageous positions (such as Sasuke punching the living daylights out of him).

Jiraiya hastily stepped in, stopping the fight before Sasuke had the chance to deal a final blow. Uchiha Sasuke was pronounced the winner.

Even as Naruto was carried wounded off the stage, he was shouting, "Kabuto! I challenge that bastard again next week! Put my name down!"

Kabuto showed no sign of hearing the boy, instead reading the next challenger. "Hyuuga Neji vs. Uchiha Sasuke."

From the corner of her eye, Sakura caught Itachi frowning. At her quizzical look, he explained, "The Hyuugas have the Byakugan, eyes that are able to see through solid objects. They see a person's chakra channels."

Sakura's eyes widened, seeing that Sasuke's coal black irises began to seem to bleed into red. "Itachi-san, Sasuke has the Sharingan too?"

"The Sharingan is the trademark of the Uchiha clan."

"Oh?" Sakura prodded, curiosity piqued. "How many Uchiha are there?"

"Unfortunately," Itachi sighed, "Only Sasuke and I remain."

Knowing better than to dig any further, Sakura refrained from asking why there were only two Uchiha left, switching instead to the Hyuugas. "How many Hyuugas are left?"

"Quite a few, actually. They established a fairly well-known base north of Mount Sage. They routinely send all of their children to this mountain to train."

Sakura, noticing that Hyuuga Neji had no pupils, spotted a quiet, timid girl among the spectators that also seemed to lack pupils.

"Itachi-san?"

"Yes?"

"Why is everyone challenging Sasuke-kun? Why hasn't anyone challenged you?"

Itachi paused before replying with a thoughtful, "I actually don't know."

"It's probably because no one can beat him," sounded a voice behind them. The two of them turned, finding Sarutobi-sama standing behind them. Itachi quickly bowed, and Sakura quickly echoed his movement, murmuring a short and respectful, "Sarutobi-sama."

"Itachi, dear boy, come with me a moment. I've got a job for you to do in the back mountains."

Itachi nodded, turning to Sakura. "Follow Sasuke after he gets out of the arena. Remember not to run around after dark."

Sakura nodded obediently. "Okay." She watched as Sarutobi and Itachi disappeared in the light mist that permeated the air.

The battle between Neji and Sasuke soon ended in a draw; Neji wounded Sasuke's chakra flow and Sasuke had Naji trapped in a mirror illusion. Sakura went quickly to support Sasuke, seeing him wobble a bit as he exited the stage.

"Where is Itachi?" he asked, annoyed at Sakura's attentions.

"He went with Sarutobi," came her answer. Her eyes narrowed. "Your chakra patterns are all messed up. Do you want me to… rearrange them for you?"

"You can do that?" Sasuke asked skeptically, arching an eyebrow.

"Of course," Sakura said pointedly. "It's basic medical jutsu."

Under watchful eyes and low whispers, the two separated themselves from the rest of the spectators, heading to their small, cabin-like rooms. Helping Sasuke to the bed, Sakura stripped off his shirt and pants, leaving him in only his boxers. Sasuke made no comment; it probably took all his concentration not to wail in pain.

Sakura then boiled hot water, dipping large towels in them and laying them over Sasuke's body. She focused chakra into her hand, beginning the painstaking process of forcing each strand of Sasuke's chakra back into its original place.

She remembered when she was only nine years old, when Tsunade had drilled the Chakra Pattern Map into her head. Sakura would recite it before her, and if she got even one strand wrong she received no dinner that night. It was a fairly effective method; she had it memorized in three days and nights.

Tsunade was nothing if not strict when it came to medical training. Her thoughts were, "Every little mistake could possibly take away a patient's chance at living. Chakra patters are the most basic diagrams you will ever memorize. If you rearrange even one patter wrong, the patient will die within the next day. So don't – ever – make – a – mistake!"

She would slap Sakura's palms with a ruler, emphasizing the last five words.

Sakura rubbed her palms at the memory, noting with satisfaction that she could probably arrange even the most displaced chakra system with her eyes shut.

After finishing, she dipped the towels in boiling water again, wringing the water dry and laying them back on Sasuke's body to prevent stiffness. Then she ran to the kitchen and asked for two lunchboxes, assuming Itachi-san wasn't going to be back for lunch.

Sasuke was awake by the time she got back. Sakura, not yet as familiar with the younger Uchiha, didn't know what to say. It seemed almost everything she did made him frown.

After lunch, Sasuke coughed a stiff, "Thank you."

"Ah, it's no problem," Sakura said breezily. "But I am worried about Itachi-san. Sarutobi-sama said he had a job for him at the back mountains, but…"

She trailed off as Sasuke froze for a moment. Her eyes widened as he appeared suddenly before her, shaking her violently. "In the back mountains? Are you sure?"

"Yes," Sakura nodded, feeling a little dizzy. "Why? Let me go!"

Sasuke released her, slumping back down in his chair. "The back mountains are the wilderness. I can't believe – It's forbidden due to various… rumors. But – Sarutobi-sama couldn't possibly ask Aniki to… No, I have to go."

He stood abruptly, making for the door. Sakura leapt at him, catching his sleeve and demanding that he explain where he was going.

"To the back mountains," he said simply.

"No!" Sakura cried. "Itachi-san just went, so maybe he knows what he's doing. Everything's probably okay. Come on, let's at least wait for a while."

Sasuke showed no sign of hearing her, slipping back into bed. She sighed, growing tired of being ignored by the young Uchiha and left for her own rom.

A few hours later she heard a scuffling noise outside. Bolting upright, she saw Sasuke attempting to leave.

"You're going?"

He nodded. "I can't wait any longer. My brother may be in danger."

Sakura looked around, taking note of how dark it was outside. "Take me with you!"

Sasuke frowned, his brows drawing together over his eyes. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because you'd slow me down."

"If this place is truly as dangerous as you say," Sakura reasoned, "wouldn't going slower be better than ending up dead? If I'm there, I can heal you if you're ever injured."

Sasuke mulled over her words for a moment, then, looking annoyed, said, "Fine. But I'm not saving you if you're ever on the verge of death."

Sakura gritted her teeth. "That's fine by me."

And so the two of them trekked through bushes, stone paths and training grounds, arriving finally at a dark forest.

"Is this the back mountains?" Sakura asked, her voice barely higher than a whisper.

"No, this is the Black Forest," Sasuke answered her. "The back mountains are beyond a cliff in the Black Forest."

Sakura began to wonder why she ever decided to come with him. He must have seduced her with his uncanny good looks. She gulped, latching onto Sasuke's sleeve as he led her into the shadows of the Black Forest.

Under the cover of the trees, it was entirely dark, making it hard for Sakura to see where she was going. There were maze-like twists and sharp turns as they got deeper into the woods. Sakura's eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness; she could make out the silhouettes of tree branches and rocks.

"Sasuke," she whispered, as if afraid to break the silence.

"What?" he whispered back.

"There's shuffling…"

"Probably just animals. Don't worry – they won't come if my Sharingan is activated."

Sakura glanced at Sasuke. Somehow the blood red of his eyes seemed oddly comforting. They belonged to him.

Sakura cried out as Sasuke suddenly pulled grabbed her shoulders, pulling her into him until she landed in his arms.

"Don't you ever look at where you're going?" he hissed in her ear.

Sakura clung to him, looking down at her feet, finding herself at the end of a very steep, very fatal-looking drop. A cliff. Water shuffled far, far below them.

"I'm going to summon an eagle to take us down," Sasuke said. Sakura had no objections.

But before Sasuke could summon the eagle, a strong breeze blew. And, with the gust of wind, there seemed to appear a hand that shoved the two of them forward; Right over the edge of the cliff.

Only their screams could be heard as they fell, clinging to each other for dear life.

Then, only silence.


	6. The Art of Sorrow 2

The Art of Sorrow 2

8.

They landed in a bush.

And that explained the reason why they didn't break any bones. Unfortunately, Sasuke was underneath Sakura, therefore he suffered the most cuts and scrapes. Sakura quickly got off of him, although not willing to let go of his robe.

"Argh... What was that?" Sasuke moaned as Sakura was checking his wounds and healing the minor injuries.

"I..." She begin, but she didn't quite know how to phrase her thoughts without freaking herself out, "I think someone pushed us."

Sasuke hesitated to speak again, but when he did, he nodded, "I think so too."

They then examined their surroundings. There was a river flowing somewhere near by, but other than hearing that, their vision was completely useless. It was so dark the only faint light visible was Sakura's chakra healing hand.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked as she finished bandaging up the poor boy.

"Mhmm?"

"I think you should tell me about those that died around here."

Sasuke looked at her, and noticed a hint of defiance and bravery in her eyes. He nodded slightly, "well, there were many rumours, like, This place is too dreary and dark for any living being to survive here. So,"

"So if there is anything going on, it's the dead." Sakura said disbelievingly, she couldn't help it. She was very cynical regarding things like ghosts and the supernatural, and it was because of hardcore scientific training by Tsunade.

Sasuke noticed her tone, but he didn't argue. Personally he didn't believe in those rumors either.

"Sasuke-kun, those who are messing everything up around here can't be ghosts. Even if they aren't alive, there must be someone living that controls all this. And if that person is alive and breathing, he has a weakness."

"You're right." Sasuke said. he stood up, "my eyes are pretty much adjusted now. What about you?"

"Mine too." Sakura also stood up.

Sasuke noticed that she was shivering quite subtly, and she didn't seem to be wearing anything warm. So Sasuke took off his robe and handed it to her, "take this. I need you alive."

Sakura took the robe gratefully, and noticed the Uchiha Symbol engraved at the back. She made a mental promise of taking care of this robe, and then she wrapped herself within it.

"What are we going to do?" she asked Sasuke.

"we should explore a bit. And search for my brother. Can you feel his chakra signature?"

Sakura concentrated really hard, then felt something light, "well, I do feel something that resembles Itachi-san's chakra over here. It's faint though."

"Me too." Sasuke agreed, "but it's hard to believe that Aniki has been here more than a few times."

Sakura grabbed onto Sasuke's sleeve as they ventured towards the river, and stepped through all the bushes and moss.

"Sasuke-kun, tell me why you're so worried." Sakura suddenly spoke up.

"What?" Sasuke spun around, staring at the girl.

"You were very worried when you heard Itachi-San was sent to a dangerous place by Sarutobi-sama. Tell me why you were so paranoid? I believe he is very strong, so why the lack of faith in him?" Sakura's eyes were as clear as glass when she spoke.

Sasuke frowned for a moment. They continued forward about a hundred meters before he spoke, "I... Aniki and I are the only ones left of our clan."

"I know."

"When I was eight-years old, Aniki and I were out training for a whole day. And by the time we came back, we saw that out entire clan was assassinated."

Sakura suddenly shivered. Her hand gripped onto his sleeve tighter, hoping for him to know that she was there for him.

"I haven't told anyone this, but I have a slight suspicion that someone on Mount. Sage murdered my family." Sasuke said.

"What? What do you mean?" Sakura gasped.

"Well, in fire country, Mount. Sage is the only place where they could harbor someone as strong as the murderer." Sasuke explained, "I use to believe that it must be another clan member, but thinking back to that night, it seemed all of the work belongs to one person."

"But Sarutobi-sama is..."

"I didn't say it was him." Sasuke muttered, "at this point nobody can touch us, but I need to get stronger in order to protect myself, and kill whomever that assassinated my clan. Oh, we're here."

True enough, they have arrived at the river. Although other than the fact that they could see a river, nothing else was there.

"This is weird." Sasuke noted, "there really is no sigh of life, even though there is water, air, sunlight, and vegetation."

"Sunlight?" Sakura asked.

"During the day the sun could reach this place. I'm sure, because I've seen this river under the sun."

"In nature..." Sakura thought back to her textbook training, "large and ferocious animals usually dominate a particular territory, and other animals does not dare to enter it's territory."

"Yes, but in this case, I couldn't sense any life forms other than plants. Do you sense anything?" Sasuke interrupted her lecture impatiently.

She concentrated really hard,

"no," she said quietly.

He then said worriedly, "usually only natural disasters are able to make everything leave."

She shuddered, "a man made natural disaster?"

"Not quite," he corrected, "it's more like the aura. Animals can sense more than we can. Maybe they don't like the aura of the place."

She was shivering now, "ok, no matter what you say, the bottom line is that there is the inevitable fact that there is something so evil and repulsive in this forest no animals dare to approach it..."

Sasuke glanced at her warily, "if you want to fly up-"

Before he finishes, there is a sudden loud and eerie laugh that echoed through the dark forest. Sakura was so shocked she fell down. Sasuke quickly bent down to pick her up, and she huddled into him like there was no tomorrow.

"Don't worry. My eyes can see chakras," he said in the most comforting way possible, but the truth was, he was just a teenage boy, and at this point he was quite out of ideas too.

"If I die, please bury me beside a Sakura tree." She hissed.

"Don't be ridiculous, I won't let you die," he hissed back.

The laughter was getting increasingly louder. It seemed to be beyond the sound of a human voice. Sakura was so frightened she had half the mind to faint.

"Watch out!" Sasuke yelled as a wooden spear stabbed right between them, forcing the duo to separate.

"Who are you?" Sasuke yelled into the darkness as he jumped to a tree branch.

"What's his chakra like?" Sakura asked, standing up.

"He's quite dangerous, I'll take him on. You try to stay alive-"

Sasuke couldn't speak any further. The spearman begins to throw more wooden spears towards his direction. He could only jump from branch to branch, and eventually Sakura couldn't see Sasuke.

Fear began to sink into her heart, she wrapped Sasuke's robe around her tighter than ever. She raised a green chakra fused hand to light the way, since she couldn't see anything at all in this dark forest.

As soon as she lifted her hands up, right in front of her, only a mere ten inch away, was a man standing as still as the trees around him. And he was looking at her.

"Boo," he puffed out quietly.

Sakura screamed.

The man leaped towards her with his arms wide open and eyes red; his hair seemed to be all over the place and it added a more demonic appearance to him. Sakura couldn't examine him more closely, because of her pure terror. She turned around and buried her face in her hands.

She must have stayed like that for quite a long time, because Sasuke patted her on the shoulders, and she jolted up and bumped her head against a tree branch.

"What's going on? Be quiet! What if the evil thing finds us?" Sasuke hissed.

She whimpered, "It already has."

Then she told him what happened.

"Are you sure it was a man?" Sasuke asks.

"Of course! I wouldn't mistake a man for air!"

"And you said he has long hair and red eyes?"

"Yes..."

"Bullshit. Only Uchihas have red eyes. And only me and Aniki are Uchihas. And Aniki does not have long hair."

Sakura pursed her lips and didn't say anything regarding that subject matter. Instead she whimpered, "Can we go up now?"

Sasuke sighed and formed a seal with a drop of his blood. Now was the time to go back, since it was obvious that he was no match for this place, or whomever it belonged too.

As they flew up to the cliff, Sakura whispered in his ear, "Sasuke-kun, do you believe those rumors are true now?"

Sasuke didn't say anything. He fell into deep thought.

Sakura hugged him tighter.

As they almost flew to the West side of Heaven Temple, Sasuke turned to Sakura, "don't mention today to anyone, even my brother. Ok?"

Sakura had no objections.

9.

Something subtle had changed between Sakura and Sasuke. Even though Sakura had only been there for a couple of weeks. Whenever Itachi was busy, Sasuke was with Sakura. Not only because Itachi told Sasuke to take care of her, also because whenever Sasuke injured himself, she could be used as an on-site nurse.

Sasuke trained more vigorously now. He knew the gap between him and his brother, and it was driving him nuts. Sasuke was the kind of person who practiced until he got it right. Sakura watched as he sprained his wrist twice in two weeks.

"You have to slow it down. At this rate, I can't save you even if I'm a goddess." Sakura said, filled with worry. She had come to care for him a great deal.

"Shut up and run your laps." Sasuke frowned.

Then the day went on. Even after a month, Sakura's limits were running two laps everyday. Although it is more like speed walking, but she was getting faster.

After the first month that Sakura came to Mount. Sage, she was praised by Sarutobi-sama during one of his lectures.

"Look at Sakura, she's so attentive," he said.

That's because Sakura literally opened her eyes as wide as she could and stared at Sarutobi from the beginning of the lecture 'til the end. She knew perfectly well Sarutobi wanted to hold back some humiliation for his dear pupil Orochimaru. Last time she fell asleep during lectures Orochimaru was the one who took the blame.

It was time that Sakura begin to take her training seriously.

Kabuto decided that today, after a month of training with the Uchihas, he would come and check on Sakura's level of progress.

"What have you done this past month?" Kabuto asked.

Sakura answered quite truthfully, "nothing."

"What do you mean nothing? Surely you've learned something!" Kabuto was angry.

Too bad neither of the brothers were there, or else it would have been fun to watch them get into trouble.

Sakura whimpered, "I can run faster now..."

"Oh? How fast?"

And so Kabuto watched as Sakura speed walked the entire lap.

"Did you apply chakra in your feet at all?" Kabuto had an overwhelming need to yell at her.

"No." Sakura said innocently.

"Ok, I'm going to show you once, make sure you watch." Kabuto said.

Sakura then opened her eyes real wide and watched as Kabuto applied chakra to his feet and begin to run incredibly fast.

"Now, did you get that? Good. Show me the results tomorrow morning." Kabuto instructed before leaving her alone in training ground 9.

Sakura stood alone, watching as Kabuto-sensei walked away, thinking this girl must be a genius since Sarutobi-sama praised her today, and Uchiha brothers were helping her.

In truth, Sakura mostly just winged it through life.

But right now she couldn't wing it, because no matter what she did, she couldn't achieve the speed of a thousand meters each thirty seconds. They said that this was the most basic chakra control, and Tsunade once praised Sakura for her chakra control, so why couldn't she run faster now?

She sat in the middle of the training ground and cried.

Yes, it was pathetic, and there were rules saying shinobis should never show their emotions. But so many things crashed down on her. The scare that she had gotten in the forest which would probably scar her for life, the perseverance of those around her, and the fact that she was quite useless.

It was all becoming clearer. She will be the only one in the entire Heaven Temple that couldn't perform ninjutsu. Heaven Temple was a symbol of protection and justice. Maybe when she turned 21, she would just go to some small village and grow old instead of traveling around the world, never to be proud of the fact that she came from a place that was filled with amazing talent.

"Sakura-chan?" A soft voice asked.

Sakura looked up, and saw Itachi.

"Itachi-San!" Sakura gasped, quickly wiping away her tears, "I... What are you doing here?"

Itachi tilted his head in slight amusement, "what? Am I not allowed?"

"No! No! It's quite alright, I am just surprised, because I haven't seen you lately..."

Itachi smiled as he wiped her tears away, "why are you crying?"

"Kabu...ka...!"

Sakura broke down to fits of sobs.

Itachi spent the next three minutes trying to decipher her sobs. She was muttering incoherent words while gesturing about the injustice of this place, saying there was no way she could live up to those expectations.

Itachi finally understood, and chuckled, "Sakura-chan, you do know that no one is perfect, right? Kabuto-sensei shoved you to us and expecting us to teach you great things, but please forgive us, for we did not spend any time with you on ninjutsu. It's completely natural that you do not have the skill to run at a faster speed than normal people at the moment. All that running you did was not in vain either. Remember when you first came here and you couldn't even run a single lap without stopping? Now you can run two laps in a row."

Sakura cried harder.

"Now, this thing is actually quite easy to do. Kabuto-sensei is just showing you the product but not the process. It's not fair to you. Come on, follow me and I will show you how to do it."

So Itachi took Sakura by the hand and told her what to do step by step.

"First, take a deep breath."

Sakura wiped her tears away and did so.

"Now, slowly transfer all your chakra to your tummy."

"Itachi-san, I'm dumb, but I'm not a three-year old."

"Pardon me, Sakura-chan. Please transfer all your chakras into your abdomen. Now, move that chakra towered your feet, feel it expands through all your toes, and to your heels."

Sakura saw in amazement as her feet glowed a faint green.

"Take a step now."

Sakura took a step, and it felt like a giant leap. The chakra took her momentum further, so each step she took forward helped her glide through the grounds like she was walking on ice.

"There you go, see? It's not so ba-"

Itachi did not finish his sentence because Sakura fell flat on her face.

"Sakura-chan, you need to learn how to control it. I understand you have an excellent grasp of chakra control, so apply your usual knowledge to your feet, and control however much chakra you release. If you release too much, you may glide too far or even indent the earth. That would be counter effective, right?"

"Yes, Itachi-San" Sakura wobbled as he helped her up, "thank you so much."

Itachi held her quite close, and then he whispered in her ear, "tell me something, Sakura-chan. Was it you and Sasuke who were at the Back Mountains the other day?"

Sakura started to shiver unconsciously .

Itachi chuckled, "Sakura, I mean no harm. I just don't want you to get hurt. I did tell you not to run around in the dark, right?"

Sakura stuttered, "y...yeah. Y...you did."

Itachi let her go after she was stabilized.

"Sakura-chan, do you like Sasuke-chan?"

"Yes." Sakura blurted out without thinking.

Itachi patted on Sakura's head and whispered almost inaudibly, "then don't ever let him go."

She was mesmerized by his eyes. They had too much depth, too much emotion that was suppressed, and too much unspeakable pain.

"Ok," she whispered back to him.

That was the only time Sakura had ever seen Itachi so vulnerable.

Years later, when Sakura reflected back upon this moment, she wondered if Itachi knew, right then, that if Itachi had forseen the future in his eyes. If he had foreseen the cruel joke that fate would play upon this girl, and the endless sorrow she would suffocate in.

10.

Kabuto inspected Sakura in front of everyone the next day.

"Sakura, just lap this training ground and you'll be fine." Kabuto said.

Sakura nodded.

But that was when Sarutobi appeared while stroking his beard, "well, well, what do we have here? Exam day?"

Kabuto almost fainted from sweat, "no, Sarutobi-sama. We are merely just, uh... Testing..."

"Interesting, interesting..." Sarutobi sat down on the edge of training grounds with the rest of the audience.

Kabuto was hissing to Sakura, "just try your best and run as fast as you can ok? Actually, let's not make you go first. Hana! Come. You go first."

And so Sakura watched in dismay as the small Hyuuga brat lapped the training ground in less than 20 seconds.

Kabuto sighed, he saw no hope in Sakura.

"Just try your best," he said.

Sakura concentrated, and she glided through the road like she was on ice. She raced forward, and literally felt the wind piercing on her face. It was absolutely exhilarating.

"Sakura! 28 seconds! That's amazing!" Kabuto exclaimed.

Sarutobi was very happy too. He stood up and shook Sakura's hand, "my dear girl, oh Tsunade, oh..."

Then Sarutobi turned away as he shed a few tears.

Sakura watched in pain as she was praised over and over for her accomplishment. Whereas there were geniuses that were capable of much greater things than she, get left alone.

Sometimes this world was quite ridiculous, Sakura thought.

Itachi appeared less and less now. The less Sasuke saw his brother, the more agitated he was. There were several times when Sasuke almost lost it. He went too far in his training and passed his limits and expectations.

Six months had passed since Sakura had arrived in this place.

She spent most of her days with Sasuke, where he would sometimes spar with her, or sometimes train by himself.

Sakura knew that Sasuke had tried asking Itachi where he had been all those times. He barely even slept in his room now. She supposed that Itachi had never given Sasuke an answer that satisfied him.

Sasuke was very passive aggressive. He pent up all his anger inside him and kept it there until he exploded, and when he did, it could get extremely ugly.

It was a fairly fine morning when Sakura and Sasuke were at training ground number nine. Today's training consisted of Sasuke trying to control the precise moment Katon released the most power and caused the most damage on a single object. It was quite complicated, because anyone was able to perform seals and spew out a fireball (granted if that person is a fire jutsu user), but rarely people have the ability to concentrate the most power on a particular point. Itachi, however, has the ability to burn an apple into dust while not burning any other objects around it. Sasuke was determined to master this precision. Just like that he was determined to master anything that Itachi was a master of.

That peaceful morning was disturbed by some students that were a few years older than Sakura and Sasuke. They walked over to training ground number nine and demanded to spar with Sasuke.

Sakura intercepted angrily, "You guys know perfectly well that fighting challenges only take place after the grand lecture—"

"Yeah, yeah." Sugeitsu said, obviously annoyed. "I know fully well, but that annoying orange kid always takes up a space with the Uchiha. Also there's that Hyuuga kid who just won't quit. Uchiha often ends up injured and cannot fight me anymore. I've had enough. Uchiha Sasuke. I demand you to fight me, right here and right now."

Something gleamed in Sasuke's eyes. He tore off his bandages that was wrapped up on his arm and said, "Alright."

Sakura gasped as everybody else instinctively backed away, leaving a huge space for the two. Sasuke frowned at Sakura, "Go away," He said.

Sakura backed away, but instantly she had an idea, so she turned her head around and ran as fast as she could, to find Kabuto-sensei.

She heard an explosion and knew that the fight has started. She forced herself to keep her eyes straight on the road and focused on getting to Kabuto's residence.

Unfortunately, Heaven Temple was a bit too big. Sakura was not very familiar with the paths to Sensei's rooms. She spent 10 minutes trying to find Kabuto's room, and when she did, she burst into the doors without any regards to his privacy.

"Kabuto-sensei! Kabuto-sensei!" Sakura yelled loudly.

Kabuto raised an eyebrow, and glanced towards Orochimaru, who was sipping a cup of tea.

"What is it?" Orochimaru asked, not minding much that she had no manners.

Sakura quickly bowed, and said, "Please go help Sasuke-kun! He is being picked on by several older students, and it doesn't look too good!"

In truth Sakura has no idea what it looked like, but she had to make something up for Orochimaru to jump to Sasuke's rescue. And quickly enough, Orochimaru literally bolted up and ran out the doors.

She could tell from experience that Orochimaru-sensei really liked the Uchiha brothers, but Sakura was too young to understand what it was about them that Orochimaru really liked.

Orochimaru and Kabuto moved a bit faster than Sakura could. So by the time she got back, she saw that neither Orochimaru nor Kabuto made an effort to stop Sasuke, because they were too occupied, staring at Sasuke while he was binding Sugeitsu with lighting ropes and thrusting a chidori inside his internal body.

"Sensei!" Sakura yelled.

Orochimaru then realized he should stop Sasuke, because there is a chance that Sugeitsu could be severely injured.

Kabuto quickly stepped up after receiving a glance from Orochimaru. Sakura ran towards Sasuke and tried to stop him with her chakras.

She was able to perform various forms of chakras. For example, she could release out soothing chakra to calm someone down, or she could create a numbing chakra that makes the patient not feel pain. She also learned more advanced ones like binding chakras and sealing chakras. Sakura considered binding Sasuke for a while, at least until his eyes stopped bleeding red, but she supposed that that would not be a good idea especially when he was breathing heavily and had the desire to kill shining in his eyes.

"Sasuke, Where did you learn this jutsu?" Orochimaru asked him.

"Kakashi." Sasuke barely lifted an eyebrow.

"He trained you?"

"No."

"Then how did you…"

"I have eyes, sensei."

That day, Orochimaru had a long talk with Sasuke. When Orochimaru came out of Sasuke's room, he was grinning and saying to Kabuto, "finally… finally!"

Sakura laid her head against the windows.

That night Itachi came. Sakura heard him walking in the yards passing her window. She looked out as he entered Sasuke's room. They must have talked about unpleasant things, because Itachi came out looking disappointed. He looked to Sakura's window and met her eyes. Sakura looked at him with concentration. Itachi tilted his head slightly towards Sasuke's room. Sakura swallowed, and blinked, and Itachi was gone.

Sakura did not see Itachi for the next four years.


	7. The Art of Sorrow 3

A/N: This was beta-ed by TwistedGrim. She is terrifically efficient~^^

* * *

><p>The Art of Sorrow 3<p>

* * *

><p>11.<p>

Sakura did not see either of the Uchiha brothers for a long time.

Itachi simply just disappeared, while Sasuke went somewhere else with Orochimaru-sensei when Kabuto-san is in charge of the West Wing. He isn't as strict as he used to be, especially when there's so much to do and it made him so busy.

Sakura spent a week alone, and she has nowhere else to go. Everybody in West Wing pretty much hated her; they believed she was sucking up to the Uchiha brothers. Now that they are gone, she has no one to rely on.

Fortunately, Sakura is able to run away from the bullies that attempt to pick fights with her. She was not particularly ashamed of running away when picked on. She knew she isn't strong in physical combat. She also knows that her weakness is the fact that she shrinks away from fights, and bruises like a peach. Therefore, her best solution to any fight is to run away, as fast as she can.

Just on one of those days when Sakura was running away from bullies, she accidentally leaped over the path that divides between West side and East side. She jumped too high, and just kept running. She didn't even realize that the scenery had changed. Which would be rather hard considering the West side is perpetually shrouded in fogs and mists, while the East side is drowned in sunshine and bright colors.

While till unaware of her surroundings, she bumped into something. They both fell down and rolled around on the ground for a few seconds until the afore mentioned "something" spoke up.

"S...Sakura-chan?" The pillow underneath Sakura asked.

Sakura looked down and found she was sitting on Naruto, the orange ninja.

"Na...Naruto-kun?" Sakura frowned, "What are you doing here? It's not... Oh" she had realized she was in East side. "I'm sorry." A shade of red appeared on her cheeks.

Naruto stared at Sakura's blush, and after a few moments he finally said, "Sakura-chan, you're so pretty..."

Sakura blushed deeper.

So the first impression Sakura has of Naruto is that he's a sweet and nice boy, and that she should treat him with respect. Unfortunately this impression did not last long as soon, Shikamaru approached them and asked, "Naruto, what are you doing under Haruno?"

They struggled to get up, and Naruto immediately defended himself. "I didn't do anything!"

"I'm sure you didn't. Naruto, Jiraiya-sensei wants you to go read his new book." Shikamaru said in a bored tone. He then turned to Sakura and said, "I'm Shikamaru, shall I escort you back to where you came from, Haruno-san."

Shikamaru certainly did not mean for it to sound as cold as that, but Sakura has been so prone to bullying lately she lowered her head and bit her lip in an effort to stop herself from crying.

Naruto was immediately worried, "Sakura-chan is not in a hurry to go back, right? She's just hungry, and we have the best ramen chef here on East side, so she is coming to taste it!"

Shikamaru stared at Naruto for a full five seconds before saying, "Alright." He then turned around and walked back to his favorite napping place. He heard Naruto whispering, "Yay! He bought it!" To which left Shikamaru a little sad. Either Naruto thinks he is stupid, or his sensei's favorite student is stupid himself. Either way, he didn't want to think about it. All he wanted to do was to nap.

After Shikamaru left, Naruto dragged Sakura to the cafeteria and talked all about himself. He gave Sakura an introduction of where he was born, how he was orphaned, how he came to Mount. Sage, how Jiraiya took him in . . .

Sakura listened very carefully. Being around Naruto is like being around a ball of sunshine. Her entire body and mind felt like it had been rolled out on to the beach, into a thin layer by a rolling pin. Every inch of her was soaked in sunshine and happiness.

They went to the cafeteria and ordered some ramen, and Naruto was slurping said ramen in three minutes per bowl. After he finished his fifth bowl, he suddenly turned to Sakura and asked, "Oh no, I should've ate slower, right? First impression and all that crap."

To which Sakura laughs and laughs until her stomach aches.

They spent the rest of the day walking together around the East side. Of course they didn't get to all of it, but Naruto showed her pretty much every corner that he usually goes to. His favorite bathroom, his favorite hot spring, his favorite training ground, his favorite friends' favorite training grounds...

Then he showed her his dear sensei.

"Ero-sennin!" He banged on the door of Jiraiya.

"Ah, you're here. Please read this!" Jiraiya then shoved a book at her when he opened the door.

Sakura stared at the book in her hand and started reading, "His eyes darkened as he kissed her-"

"NO!" Naruto yelled, grabbing the book from her hand. "Sensei! Could you watch who you are giving your book to? Even I don't want to read it outloud!"

Jiraiya squinted down at the girl before saying, "oh! It's Sakura-chan."

"Jiraiya-sensei..." She said shyly.

"Well, this is my favorite sensei. His hobbies are writing books and collecting women's under garments." Naruto introduced them.

Sakura didn't quite know if she should shake his hand or not.

Jyraiya laughed awkwardly as he smacked Naruto on the head. "Is that all you could say about me? More! Boy! More!"

Naruto thought hard, then said, "His favorite activity is peeping-"

"Not that!" Jiraiya smacked the boy again, "Others! Others!"

Naruto had a feeling that Jiraiya did not want him to talk about his perverted hobbies anymore. So he thought long and hard before he said, "and some times he turns in to a frog."

Jiraiya gave up on the boy.

Sakura has never laughed so hard before she got here.

"Sakura-chan, do you need Naruto to escort you back to West side?" Jiraiya asked.

Even at the mentioning of West side, Sakura's face fell.

The sanin noticed immediately. He asked her gently, "Sakura-chan, would you like to train here with us?"

Sakura's eyes lit up, but her mind hesitated, "But Orochimaru-sensei..."

"Let me worry about him. Now I have to go to Sarutobi-sama and ask for approval. I need you to stay in West side for just one more night. Is that ok?"

Sakura nodded fervently.

After she bid goodbye to Naruto, who escorted her back to West side, she sighed in happiness. If being in East side just for one day makes her so happy, think of how happy she will be when she actual lives there!

And the most important thing of all, during her day with Naruto, he did not say a single thing about Sasuke or Itachi. He viewed her as who she was, and not because of whom she spends time with.

Sakura didn't sleep that night due to over excitement.

12.

Sakura is now 17.

Her training with Kakashi-sensei has paid off nicely. She is now able to defend herself with basic ninjutsu. She can read attacks, jutsus, and identify the chakra users.

She trains everyday with Naruto and Hinata. After training they have lunch, and then she goes off to find Ino; sometimes to practice chakra healing, sometimes to gossip and chat. And at the end of the day she would sit in her favorite spot and watch as the sun set between the mountains.

It was all very fun. Her entire day is filled with sunshine and laughter.

Although sometimes, Sakura has the urge to ask Sarutobi where Sasuke and Itachi is. But whenever she opens her mouth, she cannot bring herself to ask the question. Part of her wants to find out so desperately it hurts, while part of her wants to leave it all behind, That is when she decided that ignorance is bliss. When she was at the West side, all she felt was admiration, pressure, sadness, and pity towards the Uchihas. Now she wanted to abandon these feelings and just hang out with her friends.

It was quite a sunny summer over at East side. It's July and summer is soon going away, so Sakura proposed a beach day.  
>There isn't any beach, actually. All that there was, was a lovely lake. Yet it's big enough for her friends. She invited Ino, Hinata and Tenten. Hinata developed at connection with Sakura that she is willing to follow Sakura to the end of earth. So she agreed to go. Tenten agreed to go too, only if Hinata invites Neji.<p>

Sakura just thought, "oh, this is not so bad. We only have to add one extra person."

Well, then Ino came to the picture.

Sakura invited her in secret, but by the time the weekend rolled around, everybody knew of this trip.

Sakura was the last one to find out about the guest list, all because Jiraiya had to bellow in his lecture, "and this is how you are able to identify the chakra signatures-NARUTO! WHAT ARE YOU WHISPERING ABOUT! MIND SHARING IT WITH THE WHOLE CLASS?"

Naruto stood up, quite embarassed, "well, Sakura-chan said we are going to the beach tomorrow..."

Sakura gasped, "Who said it? I didn't say it! Where did you-"

"Ooooh! THE BEACH!" Jiraiya laughed lewdly, "Sakura, I'm automatically invited, right?"

Sakura gulped and said, "y...yes, sensei."

Then Gai stood up and said, "Sakura-chan! How come Lee is invited but I'm not invited?"

Sakura gulped further, "you are invited too..."

Kurenai frowned, and said, "Sakura-chan-"

Ino saved Sakura the trouble and yelled, "you're all ALLLL invited!"

Then Sarutobi appeared in all his wrinkled glory, as if he rode lightening to this the East side. "Who said something about invited? Is there a party?" he asked, his eyes twinkling.

"Yes! It's a lake party!" Ino yelled.

Sarutobi beamed, "really? When!"

"Tomorrow afternoon! Sage-sama, are you coming?"

Sarutobi first said, "Of cour- oh... I can't I have to meet with someone..."

"You will be missed." Ino said solemnly.

Later in the day, Sakura hissed at Ino, "I originally invited four people! FOUR!"

"Blame Naruto!" Ino hissed back, "How do you think I feel? With Jiraiya-sensei around looking at us?"

"BS!" Sakura hissed louder, "you were planning to seduce Jyraiya-sensei to give you a passing grade in genjutsu!"

Ino yelled, "That's not true! How could you think that?"

Sakura immediately felt bad, "I'm-"

"I was planning on doing that to Kakashi-sensei!"

Sakura rests her case.

Soon Sunday rolled around, and everybody was excited to go to the lake.

What's strange is that the lake is just a few miles down the mountain. It's not far for a shinobi, yet everyone waited until this day to go to the lake. Everybody brought something fun to do. Jiraiya sensei brought his pen and notebook. Kakashi brought a sun block paste. Kureinai-sensei brought cover-up for girls, to both Kakashi-sensei and Jiraiya-sensei's dismay. Gai brought a beach ball that's made from literally from led. Hinata brought a lot of onigri and dangos. Ino brought her sexist bikini, and Tenten brought an inflatable boat.

Sakura brought some water and tea leaves, along with her medicine kit. Neji and Lee brought shinobi gears.

Last but not least, Naruto brought ramen.

"What the hell did you bring that for?" Sakura bellowed.

"I just thought maybe I would get hungry..." Naruto defended himself.

She resisted the urge to push his head through a wall.

So they all jogged a couple of miles down the mountain to the lake. Sakura, Ino and Tenten ran into the water while Hinata was setting up their camp and towels. Hinata was yelling (at least, as loud as she could yell), "Sakura! You forgot sunblock!"

"Oh right!" Sakura swam a couple hundred meters, and got up to the shady trees, and Hinata applied sun block over her.

This is a lovely little lake, too bad it doesn't have a name. It's in the middle of a vast forest, and there are little paths leading up to this place. The water is very clear and refreshing, and there are colorful little fish that swim around between the pebbles. The grassy field surrounding the lake is especially lush and green. The almond and maple trees make lovely and shady places for picnics. All in all, a great place.

The boys are over by the higher rocks, they were diving down to see who makes the biggest splash, whereas the girls are swimming under the water to find colored stones.

After a while, Sakura and Hinata came back on shore.

"Sakura-chan?" Hinata asked.

"Yes?" Sakura answered.

"Were you worried about Uchiha-San?"

Sakura looked at Hinata in surprised, "what?"

"Well," she began, "you weren't eating properly, and you were always spacing out. I saw you staring at Sarutobi-sama and want to ask something, but you backed away."

Sakura sighed and lay her head against the trees, "I just feel a little... I don't know. I haven't seen both of them in almost a year."

"But Sakura-chan, aren't you happy here?"

"I am! I am! But I... I just really want to know what they were doing, if they were ok..."

Sakura stopped talking because she saw Kakashi-sensei looking over to them. He gestured for Sakura to go over there, so she told Hinata to go play with Naruto and ran towards Kakashi.

"Walk with me, Sakura." Kakashi said.

Sakura obeyed, she got her shoes and walked along the forest path with Kakashi in front.

"Sakura, when you first arrived here, you were sent to the West side, correct?" Kakashi asked almost rhetorically.

"Yes. Sensei." Sakura wrapped a thick towel around her to dry off her hair.

"And to my knowledge you and few others were close with the Uchiha brothers?"

"Yes, sensei."

Kakashi stopped walking. He looked up at the yellow leaves, and said, "Sakura, I don't want you to have any contacts with them in the future."

She blinked, "what? What do you mean?"

He was silent for a while, and then began. "On the night of the Uchiha massacre, I was in a neighboring town. Sarutobi sent me an urgent mail and asked me to retrieve the Uchiha boys. I set off to the Uchiha compound almost immediately."

Sakura listened carefully, as if afraid to miss a single syllable.

"When I got there, the two brothers were sitting in a pool of their parent's blood. The younger one was crying, and the older one was muttering over and over again,

'I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him'."

Kakashi bowed his head for a while as a moment of silence towards the dead. Then he continued, "Sakura, there are things in this world that leaves a scar so deep even time could not erase it. You must remember that. Those two boys were deeply psychologically wounded. They are meant as avengers, and that's all they are."

"But sensei, you judge them-"

"No, Sakura," Kakashi interrupted her. "I did not judge then based on an impulse. I know for a fact that Orochimaru-san is doing some experiment with the human body as hosts. I also know for a fact that Uchiha Sasuke is off to train with Orochimaru. I do not think it is safe for you to come into contact with them when they get back. The Uchihas are prodigies. They were born on a whim of a divine hand. And when trained correctly, they could be terrifying. Promise me you won't go to see them."

Sakura thought about Kakashi's words for a while. At last she spoke, "Kakashi-sensei, I do not think I can promise you that. I... I really..."

Kakashi patted Sakura's head and smiled, "it's alright. You will learn your lesson someday. I just hope it won't be too late."

Kakashi walked back to the lake, leaving Sakura there, a little dazed.

She thought back to Sarutobi-sama, and was reminded of Sarutobi-sama's kindness and generosity. He opened up this school and trained kids as shinobis. He gave his students the best environment possible and treated them as his own. Besides, he's Tsunade-sama's teacher. There is no way...

Sakura then thought about Sasuke. She immediately regreted it, because Sasuke has occupied her mind practically every single day for the past year. He could at least visit her from time to time. She ventured back to West side a few times, and it is evident nobody lives in their old rooms anymore. She misses Sasuke like crazy, and wonders when she'll see the boy again. The boy who dragged her into dark forests, and the boy who told her that he will protect her.

Sakura went back to the camp. By then everybody was sitting in a circle and eating onigri. Hinata's cooking is truly wonderful. Sakura sat beside Naruto, who was telling her about his great plan, "so I was dumping all my ramen in the lake. I figured if I use my chakra to make the lake boil, I could have a lake full of ramen!"

She wonders what Hinata sees in this dude.

Ino was laughing her ass off, "did you just say a lake full of ramen? Do you mind some fishes carcasses with that?"

Sakura laughed along too, "It's quite-"

Before she could express her feelings, suddenly Kabuto appeared, looking disheveled and urgent. "Jiraiya-sensei!" He yelled.

"What? Kabuto, why are you here?" Jiraiya stood up for the group and looked around, "I invited Orochimaru but he said he's busy, so why-"

"Sarutobi-sama is dead!" Kabuto breathed out.

The entire lake was silent except for Kabuto's heavy breathing.

Naruto was the first one to yell, "no freaking way, you're kidding-"

Kabuto then continued, "He was murdered."

A second silence fell upon the group.

At last, Kabuto revealed the last shocking piece of information-

"Sarutobi-sama was killed by Uchiha Itachi."

13.

The entire Heaven temple was decorated in white. Everybody wore white robes. In the mist, Sakura couldn't differentiate which is which. People or mists.

Sakura saw Sasuke in Sarutobi's funeral. Unfortunately, he was being discriminated against, since people believe that his brother is the one who murdered the Great Sage.

She first noted he got taller. He is at least a head taller than her, and his hair was slightly longer. The most different thing she could find though was in his eyes. Those eyes that used to be so kind were now fierce and pierced through those who are cynical. Nobody dares to say anything in front of him, nobody dares to even look at him, because the moment those eyes bleed red, they intend to kill.

Sakura forced herself not to chase after him, not to approach him, not to look at him or think about him. But all was futile; she has this deep desperation and longing towards him that it was driving her crazy.

After the funeral, Jiraiya made a speech about how he is temporarily in charge of the students, and he permits anyone over the age of 17 to leave and experience the world. He also reminded of Sarutobi's philosophy, "Always remember, love triumphs over hatred."

Sasuke turned his head and walked into the forest, Sakura caught his movements, and she ran to follow him.

He walked on, almost for 10 minutes, until he came to a halt.

"Sasuke-kun." Sakura choked out, a little nervous.

He turned his head and his lips curved slightly, "Sakura."

Her heart skipped a beat and walked towards him to closer examine him. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." He said.

They stood still; Sakura raised a hand and asked, "May I?"

Sasuke gave her his arm. "Be my guest."

She put her hand on his arm and ran her chakra through his body. To her relief there is nothing significantly wrong with him. There are minor healing bruises and

cuts, but nothing else.

"Well?" Sasuke tilted his head and smiled at her.

"You're fine," but she was too dazzled by his smile.

Sasuke then leaned down and whispered in Sakura's ear, "Sakura, let's run away together."

Sakura stared at him.

He explained, "I am certain that Itachi isn't on Mount. Sage anymore. I need to find him, but without your help, I couldn't go very far."

Sakura understood. "Alright, when do we leave?"

"Now." Sasuke whispered.

As if carried by lightening, during the next second Sakura could only see the blurred visions of trees, steps, and the back ground of the temple gates. It's getting further and further. She realized half consciously that she was being carried by Sasuke and they were flying off the mountain on a hawk.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, raising her head in an attempt to look at him, but he put a hand on her head and forced her to keep her head down. She didn't say anything further as she felt Sasuke's head nuzzled against her hair for quite a while.

All was silent but the wind.

And that is how Sakura got off Mount. Sage; seduced by a look and a smile.


	8. The Art of Sorrow 4

**Beta'd by TwistedGrim**

A/N: I wonder if I should continue this story. Since it's more trouble than it's worth, considering the word lengths... I know I am not usually a review maniac, but it's really nice to be appreciated and been told how wonderful your stories are.

Sigh.. I vow if there are 5 reviews after this chapter I will continue on this story.

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><p>The Art of Sorrow 4<p>

14.

They stayed in a neighboring town. Sakura hadn't brought any luggage, so she bought some necessities, such as a standard medicine kit, and a couple changes of clothing. Sasuke gave her the money while he purchased weapons and some food.

They stayed at a small inn, while trying not to attract attention to themselves. For Sasuke it's kind of impossible, since his face is always a distraction.

Sakura bugs him to tell her what happened to him these past two years, so he had no choice but to gave her something to keep her satisfied.

"I trained. Every single day."

"That's it? What were you training for?"

"For avenging my family."

"And Orochimaru? He didn't have extra 'plans' for you?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "how did you know?"

"Kakashi-sensei told me."

He sneered, "Leave it to Kakashi to always interfere with someone else's business."

She tugged on his sleeve and begged him to tell her.

"Well, he did want my body." Sasuke admitted, "but I escaped with you."

"So you planned this from the beginning? To escape the moment you see me?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"Yes." he tilts his head and looked at her, "I was hoping your ninjutsu would improve.

Looks like its pretty much the same."  
>Sakura slammed her fist at him, and he caught it easily, flipping her around and twisting her arm around until she yells out in pain. He let go of her and smoothed out her muscles by rubbing them.<p>

She enjoyed this luxury for a while, moaning once or twice just for him to continue.

"I don't believe it's Itachi-San who killed Sarutobi-sama." Sakura said firmly.

"Why?" Sasuke asked her.

"Because, Itachi-San is a very kind individual. There is no-"

"Sakura." Sasuke interrupted. "I don't really care if he killed him or not. I just want to find Aniki."

Sakura didn't say anything. Sasuke stopped massaging her shoulders and said, "just go to sleep, it's late. We are leaving early in the morning."

She nodded, lay down on her futon and slept soundly.  
>It hadn't occurred to them at all that sharing the same futon might be weird. They slept peacefully together, just like when they were 15.<p>

15.

The sunlight hit against Sakura's eyes first; she was closer to the window.

She turned her head slightly and looked at Sasuke. His face was still in the shadows, yet she could see so clearly his flawless skin and long eyelashes. Each feature of his face seemed like a gift made by the gods. As if having a particularly powerful bloodline limit wasn't lucky enough already.

She was usually the one who slept in. It's odd for her to wake up so early; this must be because of her little adventure yesterday. When she has something on her mind, she can't sleep that peacefully.

Sasuke woke up soon after she did. Sakura went downstairs to buy some breakfast while he washes up.

She walked on the cold morning streets, somehow she felt emptier than ever. There was neither a feeling of fear nor anxiety, only a little remorse. She did not want to leave Mount. Sage without saying goodbye to her friends, but she assumed that they were on a chase by Orochimaru. So they must act fast.

But she also felt a bit disappointed. Life outside isn't as exciting as she imagined it to be. When she was with Tsunade every night is an adventure, a party of some sort, and they go drinking and gambling, having fun all the time.

She has a vague feeling that when she's with Sasuke, they couldn't do that anymore.

Sakura stepped back to her inn, but immediately she felt someone in her presence, a weird, ferocious sort of feeling. It's like killing intent, but controlled and pressured. She looked around and saw a group of three sitting at the corner. One is a girl with blond hair, and the other two are guys with black hair and red hair respectively.

"... Sense him-he's in this inn..."

Sakura over heard a couple of these sentences and immediately try to rush on upstairs, but something stopped her.

Sand?

She was forced to turn around and stared into the emptiest pair of eyes she has ever seen before in her life.

"What's your name?" The guy asked her.

Sakura gulped, and said, "Shouldn't you tell me your name first?"

The girl ignored her, "we're searching for-"

"Let her go."

Sakura looked up and saw Sasuke standing above the stair cases in all black. His hair was still a little damp, and he his hand was on his sword, ready to draw.

"Uchiha?" The girl asked in surprise, "I thought-"

"No." the red haired boy interrupted her; "I want to fight him."

With that being said, he charged right at Sasuke, and Sasuke drew his blade.

Sakura was tossed aside. She struggled to get up and found she was still holding the brown paper bag with their breakfast in it. As she chews the steamed buns, she wondered if this was going to be a problem, Sasuke fighting on an empty stomach.

Everybody ran outside because Sasuke poked a hole through the inn roof and they are now currently having a battle on the rooftop.

Sakura scrambled outside, and to her dismay, after 2 and a half years of training ninjutsu, she still sees this battle between the red haired dude and Sasuke as a battle of dancing lightings and sands. She tried to focus on one individual, but it's straining her eyes.

The battled lasted for at least an hour. It changed locations from the town to the forest.

That boy's siblings and Sakura followed them out of the town in to the trees.

"What does he have against Sasuke?" Sakura asked the blond haired girl.

"More like he has a thing against hatred." Temari said.

Sakura tried to follow closely to the fight, since it has slowed down considerably. At last Sasuke slashed his sword at Gaara and asked, "what the hell is your problem?"

"Your eyes." Gaara repeated calmly, "your eyes... They pisses me off."

"What the fuck?" Sasuke pushed his sword harder into the armor of sand.

"They don't have enough hatred. They are weak, pathetic eyes." Gaara said every word very clearly.

Temari and Kankuro decided it's time for them to step in. Since Gaara is considerably weakened, they each held Gaara by one arm and away from Sasuke.

Sakura quickly approached Sasuke and ran through her chakra through him. Her chakra automatically starts to heal his minor injuries and bruises.

"Sasuke-kun, please don't listen to that guy." Sakura said, "He is just a very emo monster."

Sasuke looked away and remembered what Gaara last said to him, "you have nothing in your eyes. You disgust me."

Sasuke was overwhelmed by his hatred. The red haired boy who has already experienced enough of the world that he was starting to resent it.

He wonders if this was his problem. His hatred wasn't enough.

He let Sakura heal him completely and said, "Well, we can't go back to that inn anymore. Let's look for a place and settle for tonight, we will gather information regarding Aniki in the morning."

Sakura agreed.

They walked along the forest paths as it gets darker and darker outside. The sun was slowly setting below the tree tops and it's slowly freaking Sakura out. Sasuke let Sakura tug on his sleeves and get dragged around by him. They encountered an abandoned old temple as the dark clouds came together and produced a few bolts of lightening.

"Let's stay here for the night." Sasuke said, not wanting to go any further.

A sinking feeling has set in Sakura's stomach. It's not a feeling of fear of the unknown. It's more of a premonition, because every fiber of her being was screaming at her for getting out of this place as soon as possible.

If she had known what was going to happen later to her because of tonight, she would have dragged Sasuke away from this old shaggy temple as fast as possible.

16.

The two approached into the temple. There were several large statues still standing, and some beautiful old paintings torn and ripped on the wall. Some white drapes are scattered by the side, and the whole place was covered in dust.

Sakura stuck close to Sasuke and tried her best to ignore her feelings of getting out of here, but she was soon distracted by a moaning sound.

Sasuke pulled out his sword and infused it with chakra in less than a second.

The lighting shone in the dark temple and they discovered they came face to face with a person.

A dying person, to be exact.

Sakura could really tell if that person was a boy or a girl. He or she has shaggy clothing and was thin to the point of almost breaking. The hair on its head had a dark red tint, but it's obviously covered in so much dirt that nobody could recognize.

"Wha-who are you?" Sakura asked, she was shaking.

"K-Karin." The girl-Sakura could identify her gender now, her skin was deathly pale and dirty, so was the rest of her. Except for her eyes, which were shining so brightly; they contrasted with the rest of her. Her eyes were fixed on Sasuke, and she was muttering,

"Beautiful chakra... Beautiful..."

Now if Naruto had walked past, he would probably not even notice Karin was here.

If Gaara walked past her, he would probably kill her without much consideration.

If Kabuto walked past her, he would probably searches if she had any valuables and takes them with him.

If Sasuke alone walked past her, he would have done nothing. Because he would continue to walk and oblivious of everything that does not concern with his power and wellbeing.

But thank the gods that it was Sakura that has seen Karin, and Karin must have been a really lucky girl to have encountered Sakura, because Sakura dragged her back from death.

Way into the future, when Karin laughs manically and asks the Sakura-who was on the verge of death- if she regrets saving her, Sakura closes her eyes and answers, "yes."

Perhaps her life would not be pushed down to hell if Karin did not exists but on this night, this stormy, dark night, Sakura found Karin hanging on to her last breath and begging for life, she saved her.

Sasuke sat away, on the other side as he watched with a bit of irony that Sakura was working her ass off on saving this poor girl.

She first ran her remaining chakra through her and healed most of her vitals. Then she ran to collect some water and wiped Karin clean. During which Sasuke had a nap, and when he woke up he saw a dirtied up Sakura and a decent looking red haired girl.

Karin was staring at Sasuke all this time. When she noticed Sasuke's waiting up, she said,

"You have a beautiful chakra."

Sasuke did not open his eyes. He was surprised that the girl was able to sense something so subtle, so he asked, "are you a sensory type?"

"Yes." Karin answered truthfully.

"Exactly how sensitive are you? What can you sense?" Sasuke asked, mildly intrigued.

"Everything." Karin said with confidence and calmness.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow critically. Karin restored with dignity, "this girl has 7 percent of her chakra left and you have 89 percent."

Sasuke's eyes widened a bit.

Karin also lifted up her sleeve.

Sakura gasped, "Are those-bite marks?"

"It's my ability," Karin said almost proudly, "anyone bite me is restored to full chakra in an instant. Although I can only use this ability once per day."

Sakura sighed in sympathy, "it's a useful ability but it's so cruel to you."

Sasuke personally agreed. He then said to Sakura, "The rain stopped. We are leaving after you restore a third of your chakra."

Karin quickly said, "Take me with you!"

Sasuke immediately said, "No, I don't think-"

"You're searching for someone, aren't you?" Karin asked almost forcefully, "I can guarantee that there is no better chakra hunter in this world other than me."

Sakura looked at Sasuke. Personally she hoped that Karin would come along. Mainly because it's nice having a girl as company, also because what is she going to do alone?

She can't survive the harsh and cruel ways of this world!

And just like that, Karin was added to the group that up until recently consisted only of Sakura and Sasuke.

17.

Heaven Temple is a school that trains young shinobis, which in turn will be the military backbone of Fire Country. The news of Sarutobi-sama's death has shocked the feudal lords. The fact the he was killed by Uchiha Itachi was even more shocking. But the point is that now Fire Country has no backbone army, soon neighboring nations are raging battles and conflicts along the borders. The Hyuuga family is the most prominent clan of shinobis at the moment. They suggested that they hold a tournament-whoever wins will be the successor of Heaven Temple, and in turn possess relative amount of power over the army.

And so the Feudal Lords directed the Hyuuga family to hold the tournament. Any citizen belonged to the Fire country can compete. There is no restriction on age or sex. As long as you're strong, you can compete.

This piece of news has traveled in Sasuke's ears. He wasn't particularly interested in participating in the tournament, but he has heard rumors that Itachi is going to be at the tournament, and so naturally Sasuke made his way towards the Hyuuga households, in East.

There are often many foreigners in the country. Many of which come visit to view the tournament.

Sakura and Karin faithfully followed Sasuke.

Karin's ability of sensory was extremely useful. She could sense which ninja has how many chakras, and she could remember their chakra patterns and in turn remember their identity. This ability was highly viewed by Sasuke. He often asks Karin to do scouts on towns before they enter said towns.

Sakura acted as a faithful little nurse to Sasuke all throughout the trip. Although she gets less and less time alone with Sasuke, it's only after she has realized it she begin to regret it.

While Karin was scouting a town up ahead, Sasuke and Sakura sat on the grass field jus be the edge of the town. Actually, Sakura was the one sitting down, and Sasuke leaned against a tree, his eyes were closed.

Somehow their interactions have gotten more and more awkward since Karin came.

Sakura tried to ask Sasuke, "how do you feel?"

"Fine." he answered.

Sakura then looked up the clouds. Her minds jumped towards Shikamaru and suddenly a wave of nostalgia hit her.

"Sasuke-what did you do...during the past two and half years?" Sakura asked him, quite perturbed by the lack of information he has gave her.

"Training." Sasuke said, his voice remained passive.

Sakura decided not to press further. She could still see traces of the old Sasuke, the boy who swore to protect her.

Then she asked, "What are you going to do after you find Itachi-San?"

Sasuke thought for a minute, then said, "I am going to fight him."

Suddenly Sakura felt she underestimated Sasuke all this time. He has been born as the younger sibling, so everything he does must be measured up to his Aniki.

The bond between the two brothers must be very intense, since Sasuke trained all this time just for this moment of finding him. He perhaps has not realized, but his sole purpose in life is to chase after Itachi.

Sakura shuddered, feeling a chill down her spine. What if Itachi... What if something has happened to him? Would Sasuke still be able to take it?

Sasuke suddenly spoke, "Sakura. Do you... Do you know what the last thing I said to Aniki was before he disappeared?"

Sakura didn't speak. She fears that even the smallest sound will break this fragile bond that he allowed between them.

"I told him... That I wish he never existed." Sasuke breathed out. His expression remained blank. His mind jumped back to many years ago, when his family was still alive and well. Itachi sat on a Sakura tree and shook the flower petals down to cover Sasuke head to toe with pink petals. Sasuke would be the boy jumping around the tree pleading his brother to teach him how to climb.

Something stirred within Sakura. She has seen many many sad things, but Sasuke's confession touched a part of her that she never thought was there. Especially when she was so close to Itachi, and she could tell-at least, in her opinion, how unbelievably nice and understanding he was towards others. He could feel emotions in others before they even know it was even there.

In the end, Itachi neglected his brother.

Was it his fault? Or Sasuke's? What is it that made the two brothers separate? Was it power? Were they both seeking that? Or was it revenge?

Somehow Sakura felt that they never really truly understood one another, despite how close they were.

Karin came back; Sasuke was back to his cold and untouchable demeanor.

18.

"There are several ninjas in this town. But their chakra was not significant. So it's safe to go." Karin reported back to Sasuke.

Sasuke decided to go in to the city.

But almost as soon as they reach the city center, a ball of orange ran over to them, and it lung it self on Sakura while yelling, "Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke at first wanted to draw his sword, but decided against it since this idiot's chakra is one he knew too well.

"It's me! Me! I'm Naruto!" Naruto yelled, jumping up and down.

"Yes you've made that clear, Baka!" Sakura laughed.

Sasuke noticed it was perhaps the first time that he has seen her laugh.

"What are you doing with teme? We all thought he abducted you!" Naruto asked while shooting death glares at Sasuke.

Sasuke choose to completely ignore Naruto.

"We... We are traveling together." Sakura made up a lie, "I'm looking for Tsunade-sensei."

"Oh, I heard she travels around the world and leaves no traces." Naruto said sympathetically.

Karin coughed.

Sakura quickly said, "This is Karin. She's a sensory type, speaking of which, how did you find me?"

"Sakura-chan." Behind Naruto appeared the purple haired Hyuuga heir.

"Hinata-chan!" Sakura hugged in happiness, "why are you here?"

"The Izao family is allies with my family." Hinata smiled, "they invited us for a party."

"A party?" Karin echoed.

"Izao?" Sasuke echoed.

"Yes." Hinata looked towards Sasuke, "they are allies with your family too, right, Sasuke-San?"

"Yes." Sasuke said, frowning.

Sakura immediately said, "well, it's nice to catch up with you, but we have to go-"

"No! You can't go!" Naruto yelled in all his craziness glory, "The Izao family heiress is getting married. We need to stay!"

"Why?" Sasuke asked in annoyance.

"Because she's tossing a flower ball to the crowds, and whoever catches it gets to be the groom!"

"The crowd?" Sakura asked in surprise, "I didn't know this tradition still existed! Can we stay, Sasuke? Please? The tournament isn't for a long time, look, even Hinata is here!"

Sasuke closed his eyes and agreed in silence.

So Naruto dragged Sakura forward while saying, "You can't believe what this place has, it's so huge! I've never seen anything like it. And Izao-San is sooooo nice to us..."

Sasuke was left behind with Karin and Hinata. All of them felt neglected somehow. Some care more than others.

"Sasuke-san, I'll take you to Izao-San. He must be very excited to see you again." Hinata said in a slightly forced voice.

Sasuke made no comment, except to follow her.

Karin followed behind them and her mind was filled with confusion. She never realized that they were all from Mount. Sage. A prestigious place that takes in students by either talent of wealth. She knew that Sarutobi has died recently, therefore they must all venture down from the mountain, but they were not 21 yet. This is a little strange.

Especially the Hyuuga heir. She never expected to see the Hyuuga heir in a place like this.

"Izao-San." Sakura bowed to the man sitting at the front of the huge hall.

Karin and Naruto and Sakura were continued to be amazed by the vastness of this house. But Hinata and Sasuke seemed like they couldn't careless.

Maori Izao is an old man of at least 60. He dressed very richly and carefully. Wearing a purple robe with golden lace hemming. There are very distinct patterns on his cloth that made him stood out against everybody they have seen so far. He seemed happy to see Sasuke and Hinata; he asked how Sasuke was and asked Hinata how her father was. He insisted they stay there for the night and participate in the party that is about to take place in a couple of hours.

All five of them had doubts about this way of marriage. Unfortunately Maori Izao has already spent a lot of money on the ceremony and the reception. Everything was prepared and ready for his daughter. He waits for the moment until his daughter tosses the flowers and whoever catches it will be his son-in-law.

None of them spoke up against him.

And then the bride to be is introduced to the guests.

She turned out to be really pretty, with big eyes and small face. Her body was adorned with accessories and elaborately layered clothing. But that face is too familiar to the students on Mount. Sage.

"Tenten!" Naruto almost screamed out her name.

Hinata and Sasuke were not surprised. They probably grew up together.

Sakura gasped as she sees Tenten in formal clothing. Tenten merely glanced at them and then turned to each of the guests and bowed to them respectively.

Sakura and Naruto have never seen her so polite and well mannered, they stood gaping.  
>At last Sakura came to her senses and dragged Hinata to a corner of the grand hall and hissed, "What the hell? What the hell?"<p>

Hinata whispered back, "I didn't know it was going to be Tenten. I assumed it was going to be one of her sisters. But Tenten's last name is Izao, didn't you know?"

Sakura honestly did not.

Maori Izao was quite happy, "Tenten, you may go play with your friends in your dressing room. I need to talk with Sasuke-chan."

Sasuke made no objection. So Tenten led the Karin and Naruto to guest rooms while herding Hinata and Sakura off to her dressing room. They went through stone paths and gardens until they reached the courtyard, and as soon as Tenten closed the door, she threw her head dress off aside and sighed.

"Tenten, what exactly is going on here?" Hinata asked worriedly.

"I thought it was going to be fun to watch an old tradition, but it's not fun if this happens to one of our friends!" Sakura said.

Tenten turned away and breathed out, "I don't have a choice. I can't change my decision now."

"What the hell did you decide!" Sakura yelled louder, almost shaking her.

Tenten burst into tears, "My sister ran off with her lover, so I had to replace her!"

"What? That's not a reason to just decide your future husband based on a flower toss!" Sakura stared at Tenten with force.

Hinata agreed, but she didn't say anything.

"I don't care anymore." Tenten looked away at both of them, "I don't think I will ever encounter anyone I could love ever again."

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked, her voice quivering, because she had a good idea of what happened.

"My sister... She ran off with Neji." Tenten said quietly. She went over to her bed that is covered in silky sheets and picked up her jewelry headdress, and secured it on her head again.

It's so heavy, she felt like the whole world is crushing down on her.

Sakura stood, dazed. She never knew so much was behind this. Now her previous interference seemed laughable.

Hinata stood by the side, she want to comfort Tenten, but nobody spoke or moved. Tenten didn't cry, but Hinata was certain it wasn't because she didn't want to. It's because she has cried so much that there were no tears left.

Outside, a large bell sound rang. The ceremony has started.

* * *

><p>AN: I am loosing intrest in this story. Yet I have planned and planned for this story from the begining to the end. If there is no strong protest about me dropping this story, I will post my planned outline next chapter and you guys will see what happened in the end. If there are any readers that really really want this story to continue, please review...

Also if I do not continue this story, I will most certainly continue with this collection. I will just post brand new stories with new plots and same characters LOL.

Thank you for reading.


	9. The Art of Sorrow 5

A/N: Thank you to SakuraakaMichelle for beta-ing this. Please visit her page and read her stories as well

I decided I WILL continue and eventually finish this story.. I was so very taken aback by the various strong protests of against discontinuing this story. But then again, it means you guys have to wait a while to read my next awesome idea which involves... lot's of cool stuff.

To be honest this collection is my favorite fic out of all others. Teehee.

I am currently going through a bad break up...= =.. Updates might be a while. I promise I will update the next chapter before the first week of January.

Happy New Year to all. I love you guys so, so, much. Any questions concerns please pm me. I will always reply. Which is why I usually don't reply to reviews, since I don't know if they wanted to be replied or not= =..

Anyways. I hope you guys find this chapter very intresting... Not much Sasusaku interactions here though, But they will get their spotlight in couple of chapters.

* * *

><p>The art of Sorrow 5<p>

* * *

><p>18.<p>

Sasuke stood stoically as he watched Maori Izao explained the financial issues carefully to Sasuke. By the end, he gave Sasuke a seal that had the Uchiha crest on it.

"Take this. If you have it, you can withdraw money from any of my banks," he said. "Also, your father left all of his estates to you and your brother. Since your brother is not present, I entrust this to you."

Sasuke took it and said, "Thank you."

Izao sighed in a tragic way, and said to him, "Sasuke, maybe you do not like to hear this, but I watched the two of you grow up. I really do not believe that Itachi is capable of killing anyone without reason."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

Izao decided it's best not to talk about this any further. Conveniently, the bell rang, and it was time to start the ceremony.  
>"Go have fun, eat, drink." He rushed Sasuke out.<p>

Everybody in town was present. They gathered in front of the great balcony that the Izao family pride themselves in building. Tenten stood on the balcony and looked down at the massive crowd. Her father approached the crowed as it got silent.  
>Izao first made a great speech about welcoming everybody and there are enough food and wine for everybody. Then he asked the crowd the to disperse and only males of specific age groups approached the balcony.<p>

Sakura stood by Tenten all this time and she whispered in Tenten's ears, "Please, please don't do this. I know you don't want to determine your future just by a ball toss, this tradition is not meant for someone like you. You're a shinobi!"

Tenten sighed, and said in soft whispers, "Sakura, there is a fine line between I don't want to do it, and I don't care anymore. I am currently crossing that line."

"What if someone unbelievably bad caught it?" Sakura asked. "What if his personality sucks?"

"Then I would beat him into a pulp."

The girls snickered, but soon they stopped because it's time for Tenten to toss the flower ball. Tenten stepped up, and she didn't even bother to look at the crowd. She practically flung the ball in a random direction and then retreated back to the Grand crowd went crazy as each of the men tried to snatch it. Sakura quickly followed Tenten.

"Tenten," she said to the girl. "Let's run away."

"What?" The raven haired girl stared at Sakura as if she was crazy.

"I am serious," Sakura said as she gestured towards the crowd outside. "Your father won't look for you for at least a few hours, because you were supposed to be back at your room, preparing for the wedding. But if you come away with us, we can hunt Neji down and ask him exactly why the hell did he run away with your sister. I seriously, seriously, think there is a misunderstanding here somewhere," Sakura finished in a breath.

Tenten looked at the back of her father and various guests. "But my family..."

"This is your life, Tenten," Sakura said.

Tenten bit her lips and closed her eyes, "Ok. I will. Let's meet at my room in 10 min, I need to pack."

"Pack lightly," Sakura said.

Tenten bade her good bye and quickly rushed off to her room. Sakura found Sasuke eating among the guests, and quickly whispered to him, "We're leaving."

He didn't seem surprised. He raised an eyebrow and said, "I will collect Karin and meet you at the southern gates."

Sakura then rushed off to Hinata and Naruto. "Sakura-chan, did you think this through? If Tenten was to escape her duties, one of her sisters must take on the responsibility," Hinata said worriedly.

Sakura was almost on the verge of tears. "I don't care. Ok? I just want Tenten to be happy. She's my friend! I've known her for such a long time and she shouldn't be taking on this burden all by herself!"

Hinata didn't say anything for a while; instead she looked out to the crowds, and said, "I don't think she should leave. She has family obligations."

Sakura almost went mad with fury, "Hinata, do you think Naruto would have approved for you? If your father is against this, do you think you would run away with him?"

There was no time to wait for an answer. Instead Sakura ran to Tenten's sleeping quarters, hoping she hasn't changed her mind.

Hinata stood in the hall, her mind was spinning. She felt horrible for snapping at Sakura like that, but her eyes could not hide the sadness within. There was something that has burdened her for a long time - she must go back home and face her marriage. It was bought down to her when her older sister eloped and escaped the engagement that was supposed to be hers. Hinata felt great pity for Tenten's little sister, whom must shoulder the burden of this marriage.

Burdens. They never went away, they just kept on passing down step by step, and the last one who faced them was the most painful of them all.

Everybody else was busy celebrating and cheering, Hinata seemed to be all alone until Naruto came and held her hand, "Hinata-chan."

Hinata smiled at her dear boy.

"Let's go," Naruto grinned. "Everybody left. It's time to go."

Hinata agreed. She looked towards the gates and caught a glimpse of Sakura, who glanced back at Hinata. Their eyes met, but separated again. Somehow, deep in Hinata's heart, she knew that Sakura's life would not be a cakewalk either. The red haired girl... If she's not mistaken, she has last seen her beside Orochimaru.

19.

Tenten was the new addition in Team Sasuke. She was more fun to be around with than Karin and Sasuke. Sakura chatted and talked with Tenten more than she did with those two. It's better anyways, since Sasuke rarely talked, and Karin only chased after him.

Tenten joked once, "Sakura, aren't you worried she'll steal your Sasuke?"

Sakura laughed so hard until she fell down on the floor. But Tenten did not see anything funny with this.

"I am sure," Sakura said. "If Sasuke decided to pursue a romantic relationship anytime soon, I will worry about it."

Tenten sighed, "That's how Neji got away from me."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, picking up dry branches from the ground. They were in charge of firewood, and they used this as an excuse to wonder away from the other two.

"Neji, he... You see, after Jiraiya Sensei said we could roam wherever we wanted, Neji and I travelled together. I brought him home, and he grew closer with Lara. I never thought they would develop feelings for each other..."

Sakura's eyes gazed towards Tenten. She was drowning herself in distant pain that still stung. Sakura looked up at the sky and reminded herself of the past couple of years over at the East side. Neji and Tenten were inseparable back then. They always trained together and fought together. Tenten must have thought he was hers by default. She has shone her most masculine and intimate side to him, and he treated her more like a brother rather than a girl. When Tenten bought him back home, he first encountered a girly-girl who looked like Tenten but was a thousand times more feminine, maybe he fell for her.

"He didn't even tell me that he was leaving," Tenten bit her lips as she leaned against the tree trunk. Her arms full of dried branches. "His eyes... They were so warm, so soft... When they look at her, it looked as if he was willing to hand the world to her."

Sakura dropped her branches and hugged Tenten as tightly as she could. Sakura's hands caressed Tenten's cheeks. "Don't cry, please, don't cry..."

"Silly Sakura," Tenten laughed. "Come on. Let's gather up the branches. I bet Sasuke's pissed."

20.

Sasuke was indeed pissed off at the two girls. They took such a long time finding branches, by the time they got back, it started raining. And there went their chance of making a fire.

"Let's move on," Tenten said to them. "I know the village ahead quite well. It's large, and there is a festival going on there. It's harder to track us with more distractions."

Sasuke frowned, "The village ahead isReno. It's under the control of Yamazakes."

"So?" Tenten asked. "I haven't seen Ino in a while."

It's not a secret that the Uchihas and the Yamazakes did not get along well. Since both belong in the genjutsu type, each tried to rival one another in terms of strength and power. But Sasuke did not have a choice in that matter, since the rain was pouring down quite heavily and threatens to soak them all.

Ino's father greeted them with faint enthusiasm. Tenten was the first to notice that something was wrong. She asked outright, "Yamazake-san, what is going on here?"

He looked at them with difficulty and glanced at the guards outside, "I…"

Sasuke lost his patience. He stood up and said, "If you do not want us here, we will simply leave. It's fine—"

"No!" Yamazake-san said urgently. "It's just… I… my family is in grave danger and there is nothing I can do to protect them."

"Are you a shinobi or not?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

Sakura put her hand on Sasuke's arm, and he snorted. Yamazake-san was apparently not in mood to be taken offence of, so he said to Tenten, "Tenten-chan, I watched you and Ino grew up together, but this really isn't a good time to come, because… I … I…"

He looked as if he was about to cry if Ino did not walk into the doors. Ino saw Sakura and Tenten, her eyes lit up and expression turned into a wonderful smile.

"Why are you guys here?" Ino asked, she was uncomfortable after a few second. "What are you guys doing here?"

Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. He stepped up and asked. "Alright, what exactly is going on?"

So under Sasuke's half menacing and half threatening glare, Ino's father had no choice but to present the object of his worry—which turned out to be a letter.

This was not an ordinary letter. It was presented on a silver plate with glass protection. The servant was trembling when he brought it to the waiting audience. Sasuke took one look at the letter and his face went pale. Sakura's face went bright red, while Karin resisted her laughter by coughing, and Tenten was the only one who kept her emotions intact and read the letter aloud.

_"Dear Lord Yamazake:  
>I will arrive tonight at midnight. Be prepared.<br>Hidan of Atatsuki"_

Tenten stared at the envelope, and her face suddenly scrunched up in fear as she rushed over to Ino. "You idiot! What did you do! Did you attract Hidan's attention?"

Ino shrinked, "I don't know! I just came home after Jiraiya said we could come back. I don't think I have ever met him…"

"Baka! The envelope is engraved with flowers! Flowers!"

Ino wailed as she hid behind Sakura from Tenten, "What do I do? What do I do? I don't want to lose my virginity to him!"

Yes. That was basically the gist of it. Atatsuki was a criminal organization that did evil things of all kinds. There were nine members in total, and each went their own way about to bring evil to the world. The Council would have done something about them by now if they were not ridiculously strong and had an unknown base and unknown amount of sub members. They were said to have spies everywhere important. Each member had established a reputation for his or herself. For example, Sasori the puppet master was the elder brother of Garra of the sand. He joined Atatsuki due to his hobby of collecting well preserved corpse and turned them in to powerful puppets for his own enjoyment.

And unfortunately for Ino, in her case she must have caught the eye of Hidan somewhere when she was flamboyantly fooling around in her journey. Since she was considered pretty, Hidan must have decided to… take her virginity. This was Hidan's evil deed. He came into homes and takes the virginity of many privileged girls. It's quite a disgusting habit, but fortunately he didn't do it much, since he was fairly picky with him victims. First, the family of the girl must be rich. Second, the girl must be beautiful. Third, the girl must be of age. He may be a pig, but he's not a paedophile. This last sentence was a quote taken directly from his mouth when he crashed a birthday party of another unfortunate rich girl a while ago, only to find the girl was 6 years old.

Basically, everybody knew of Atatsuki and their infamous deeds. Therefore almost everybody knew of its members and their evil doings. Hence the look on their faces when they saw the pink flower engraved letter. It's a common knowledge that all rich fathers dread this disgusting thing. Hiden established such a reputation for himself that fathers everywhere discipline their daughters everywhere with his name. Such sayings are well known throughout the world, "Eat your vegetables! Or else I will send your picture to Hidan" or "Go to sleep! Or else I will show your picture to Hidan!"

It's all quite ridiculous when hearing about them. But in fact if it actually happened to someone you know it's quite devastating. The reason being that Hiden did not only established himself as a sex god, he also established himself as a person who never fails. It was true. He had never failed once. Usually when fathers received the letter, they have two choices. Either they keep this whole thing quiet so the public would not find out about it and consider the girl "damaged", or he hired tons and tons of powerful guards to protect the girl. In the previous case it guaranteed Hidan's succession. In the latter, what if the guards could not stop him and the girl ended up losing her virginity anyways, the public would know and her reputation will forever be in jeopardy.

So in either case, it is safe to say that Ino was screwed. Or would be, literally.

Ino wanted to cry, but she found this thing more important than they should give credit for. Her father has hired many powerful guards to protect her from any harm and its official that her virginity would be in danger. In fact unbeknownst to anybody but Sakura and herself, she lost her virginity a long time ago, and she didn't even remember who she has given it to. She was positive that when Hidan found out she wasn't a virgin, he'll just fly away as fast as he could.

But there was no way she would admit to her dear daddy that she wasn't a virgin anymore. It's rather embarrassing, for him, that was, more than for her. Her family was well respected and privileged. More importantly, unlike all other families, her mother died while she was giving birth to Ino and Ino was the only child and the sole heir to the large estates of this family. She was treated like a princess from the moment she was born, and she was also been disciplined very strictly. In fact Ino had an ill feeling that if her father found out, he would personally kill her before she has a chance to meet Hidan. So it's not an understatement to say that she would rather face Hidan than her father.

And so this was the situation now.

Sasuke's reaction was this, "This is obviously a family matter. We need to leave."

Tenten and Sakura shot him death glares while yelling simultaneously, "NO!"

"Sasuke-chan, where are you headed?" Lord Yamanazake asked him.

Sasuke frowned at his suffix, but did not argue since it was true that he has watched Sasuke and Itachi grew up…from a safe distance.

"We are headed toward the Capital city, where the Tournament is held," Sasuke said.

"Ah.. I was going to go there myself," Lord Yamanazake said thoughtfully. "How about this. If you guys stay and help my daughter as best to your ability, I will certainly escort your guys toCelestialCity myself, and pay for all your expenses."

"I have money," Sasuke said in irritation.

"Sasuke…" Sakura sighed, her eyes staring into Sasuke's. "Please? We could really use your help since you have the Sharinngans. Not to mention you might be the most skillful and observant in all of us. You are so intelligent—"

"Fine, fine!" Sasuke coughed.

Karin immediately said, "I will help too. I am the sensory type, and I will inform everyone immediately if I sense a strange and powerful chakra inside the village."

"Thank you," Ino's father nodded at them in gratitude and offered to treat them with a feast.

Everybody was unable to enjoy the food as the night fell slowly upon the mansion, and each ate as rigidly as possible. Sasuke was discussing what sort of security measures he had in place for Ino. Karin ate in a nervous state as she was constantly checking and assessing the chakra levels of people coming and going the village. Tenten and Sakura were hissing and talking with Ino.

"What the hell, man? What the hell!" Tenten hissed under her breath to Ino.

Ino sighed, "Well, let's just have that Hidan dude here and when he sees I'm not a virgin, he'll be satisfied and let me go."

To which Tenten gasped, "You're not?"

Ino gave her a pointed look.

Sakura looked away. Her eyes caught Sasuke's, who was talking to Ino's father. She smiled at him, his eyes warmed a little as his glance went back to the person he was talking to. Sakura suddenly had no idea that a simple look from him could be so intense, so absolutely amazing to her that it made her heart beat wild with happiness and excitement.

"-kura, Sakura!" Ino pinched Sakura on the arm.

"Ouch! Yes?" Sakura turned back to the girls.

Ino said to her, "Sakura, will you be here with me tonight?"

"Of course. Tenten and I will be by your side."

"No, I don't think that's safe," Sasuke said.

"Why don't you come with us then?" Ino sighed in irritation.

"Wait! I have a good idea!" Karin suddenly exclaimed. "Why not Sasuke-kun acts as Ino on her bed tonight? This way Hidan have a much less chance of getting to Ino-san."

Sasuke gave Karin a piercing glare that almost froze hell over. He tried to argue against it, but there was no good counter argument he could come up with. It was a good idea, and if he tried to protect Ino from the outside it would have been too obvious. Hidan would be on his guard so much more. The only strength they have at the moment was that they didn't know they had Sasuke on their side. Hidan would be in a big surprise when he came.

Ino watched as everybody fussed over her, in truth she planned all this quite accordingly. She would tell the dude clearly that she wasn't a virgin and welcomed him to check if he wished. After he asserted the fact that she was an honest non-virgin girl, he would leave, and she would have a good excuse as to why she wasn't a virgin anymore. She believed in Sasuke's ability, but it's a fifty-fifty chance mostly. Sasuke did not have enough real battle experience, whereas Hidan was quite a capable fighter, from the reputation he established on for himself.

"What time is it?" She asked Sakura.

"It's 10," Sakura looked around nervously.

Ino laughed at Sakura. They were in a garden. Tenten was at the front guarding the entrance; Sakura and she were strolling around after dinner.

"This isn't a big deal."

"Just in case," Sakura said. "I am afraid Hidan will kill you."

"Does he do that?"

"I don't know. You never know. It is not safe to come in contact with people like this in a close distance."

"Ah."

Sasuke appeared beside the girls, "Sakura," He nodded his head towards Ino.

Ino snickered as she said, "I'll go find Tenten."

Sasuke and Sakura stood in the garden, both a little speechless.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura began. "I…I'm sorry to have dragged you into this."

"No worries," He quickly shook her off. "I want to face someone as strong as Hidan anyways. I heard his ability is the fact that he never dies. It's an interesting ability."

Sakura blinked a few times, and then said, "Sasuke-kun. I—"

"Sasuke!" Karin suddenly yelled from a distance.

Sasuke quickly gave her a look before vanishing out of the gardens, leaving her alone.

As it turned out that Karin felt something powerful turning up at the East side of the village, the question was whether to go and investigate or continue with the plan and let Sasuke sleep in Ino's bed pretending to be her. Ino made the choice, "I think it's safer if Sasuke-kun could pretend to be me a little while. If we go seek him out, he has the advantage since we are in the light and he would be in the dark. It's best if we reverse the positions so he does not get a chance to pounce on us."

In truth Sakura knew that all Ino wanted as to meet Hidan. She almost wanted to compliment Ino on her acting and intelligence of getting her way. Ino shot a glare at her to keep her from rolling her eyes. Ino's father obviously thought it was a good idea as they rushed off Sasuke to Ino's room, to his great annoyance, and they hid Ino in the garden.

"It's not like I'm incapable of fighting…" Ino grumbled to herself as Sakura patted her back soothingly.

The entire mansion was as bright as the day because so many candles and torches had been lit. It's weird because nobody was talking and they stayed as quiet as possible. Sasuke hid under the covers in Ino's room as they waited for the dreaded time to come. As sure as the day would come, at twelve o'clock midnight there was a strange breeze blew past the entire mansion that gave everybody quite a fright. Suddenly, as if by magic, all light dimmed and vanished, and it was totally and completely dark.

Ino hid behind a fake mountain while Sakura was next to her, looking more nervous than she was. Ino suddenly felt a bit hungry. She wished she had the sense to actually eat something during dinner.

A laughing voice echoed throughout the house and startled everybody, "Ahahahaha! You think this could stop me?"

Then the crossing of weapons could be heard coming from Ino's room. Looks like Sasuke and Hidan started fighting.  
>Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him. From the moment they crossed blades Sasuke could tell this man was strong, yet he did not know what his powers were. That was perhaps the most frightening part. Hidan's movements were indeed swift and agile. His speed was a little slower than Sasuke's yet he made it up by his strength and experience. They were pretty evenly matched as they sparred under the moonlight.<p>

Sasuke was even more pissed off. The first line Hidan said when he saw Sasuke was, "I never thought Yamazake's daughter would be so pretty. A little masculine for my taste."

This was enough to set Sasuke over the edge. His eyes bled red as Hidan jumped away in surprise, "An Uchiha? You're not Itachi."

Sasuke charged at him, "What do you know about my brother?"

Hidan laughed, "Nothing. I came with the intention of having a good time."

Sasuke's sword pointed straight at his critical points. Hidan quickly defended, losing his smile and became more serious this time.  
>So far neither of them has shown each other any of their skills. Hidan seemed want to drag this out for as long as possible.<br>Sakura and Tenten were on guard and holding out their kunais while Ino was thinking, it's such a shame to have a villain with such a nice voice. Her mind usually wandered elsewhere when she consider the events in front of her quite trivial.

The blond haired girl leaned against the rock and sighed.

It seemed that small voice gave the perpetrator the cue, as if by flashes, he appeared in front of the girls and said, "Oh! So this is where you hid her!"

Ino stared as he knocked the two girls out in an instant. Her first impression of him was… Oh gods. He was so beautiful. His hair was pale and bright under the moonlight, his eyes and lips very distinct and manly. His eyes focused on the girl as she realized his eyes have a red tint to it. He licked his lips as he smiled evilly at her. Ino laughed at him internally. She firmly believes she was on equal grounds—if not superior to his in terms of the art of seduction.

Hidan wore a black robe made from silk and golden lining. He has a scythe in his hand. Ino stood up and faced him. Might as well, since he said, "Listen girl, you are going to come with me or else I—"

"Ok," Ino said.

He was obviously taken aback. To the point that he actually was stunned for 3 seconds, until he said, "You… you are willing to come with me?"

"Of course. I can't wait to get out of this place," Ino said, putting on a pathetic face. "If you get me out, I am willing to do anything."

Hidan then laughed, "I see I see! I understand now! Well it isn't the first time that I attracted a lady because of my looks. Well now, I think we can make a deal here. If you sleep with me, I will get you out of your family's grasp."

"Wonderful," Ino said dryly.

As if in a blink of an eye, her world was turned black, and she felt a pair of arms surrounding her waist as she caught the moonlight when moving through the rooftops.

* * *

><p>TBC<p>

.


	10. Updates

Hi fellow readers!

I don't know how many of you are still on FF, but I recently decided to re-organize "Dichotomy" and rewrite it into a multi-chapter story set in the modern 's titled "Apathy" If anyone is interested, please check it out. I felt I owe it to the readers who has been waiting for a continuation of "Dichotomy" but never got it. This is the payment.

As for this collection, if inspiration comes I'll update, but it seems embarrassing to keep on updating when a series of failed or incomplete stories. Sorry for all the troubles and thank you all so much for supporting me. It seems I will never be able to cut FF away from my life.

Val


	11. Diary-Burnt by a Star

A/N:

Right off the bat I'm gong to say this is a CRACK FIC.

I started this because I wanted to get into the habit of writing a journal. Now, knowing this wouldn't last... Or perhaps it will. I don't know, I'm going to put it in my one-shots collection. Just for the heck of it.

The contents of this fic is partly fictional and partly autobiographical. Fictional because my own life is too boring. Autobiographical because I want the realist feel. I'm practicing the art of journal writing without sounding too Highschool-esque. Please bare with me.

This fic will be in the universe that is parallel to "Desire for a Star", because the author is too tired to make up any other universe available.

DIARY OF HARUNO SAKURA!

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

April 13, 2013

I am currently writing this by the bay window beside my Grandmother's precious herbs. It's snowing outside-middle of the April and still snowing. I wonder if it is the idea of global warming and climate change, or is it the idea of God playing a joke on us all. I don't know.

By "writing", of course I meant I'm holding my tiny touch screen laptop with a flip open keyboard attached. I wish times were like the olden days where we could use a large feathery quill and dip it in ink, and then scribble on our golden hemmed notebook and write long elegant letters that similar to the elvish language in "Lord of the Rings", unfortunately two problems with that. First, I have horrible hand writing. I mean, I could probably try if I wish, if I really really try to write neatly and curvy at the same time. But my ideas flows out faster than I can write. In that case I'd spend ten minutes writing a paragraph fit for a museum, but then it would be a boring and unfinished paragraph. Second, one can obviously see the impracticality of having a quill. If the feather tickles me I might sneeze. Then I might knock over my ink, then I might smudge my beautiful leather bound notebook-

That might be messy.

Besides, Grandmother would kill me, for all her previous herbs and plants are in the greenhouse in the winter. Yes, she would. Yes, yes.

Luckily I saved up to buy this little tablet of mine. It's very quaint and cute, and it flips open whenever I need to type something-which is like always. I not only use it for notes, I also use it for drawing, writing stories, checking email, downloading PowerPoint, writing essays... Let's just say I use it for a lot of crap. So you know what that means-the day I break this would be coming soon.

I felt the need to write a journal entry today because of all the shit that has happened to me during the last few weeks-or months, even. I may actually have to give myself an award for the "worst life ever". Seriously. None of the friends I have knows about this, but I seriously do have the worst life ever. The only reason I didn't go suicide because I have a thesis to work on and it would be a waste of tuition. And also I have a cool house to live in, with my Grandmother. Who always remind me that she's on her deathbed and asks me to do all sorts of chores around the house in preparation for her death. It used to scare me a few years ago, but now it's just a regular day when Grandma says, "Sakura, come snip some lavender for a bouquet for dear Tsunade, it's her birthday tomorrow. You need to learn how to make a bouquet yourself now, for one day I might die just like that, and what will you do when it's your professor's birthday?"

I didn't answer, because I knew she would not like it.

So I grab the tiny pair of silver scissors and begin to clip. I clip everything she asks, (two strands of lavender, one horseshoe lilly, a few strands of star grass, a meter long of pale pink ribbon, and pretty wrapping paper) and she arranged it into a basket with a bottle of wine and some fruits.

"I'll deliver it to her tomorrow." I said.

She nodded.

After that, she finally left me alone for a while with my thoughts while she flipped on the national geographic channel. She usually read medical books or recipes.

Where are we-oh right. Now to begin my life.

I live in a wonderful old house that is almost ancient. I swear the walls are made from stones. Or something equally heavy and ugly. But Grandmother painted over them and now they're ok-looking. The best part about this house is that-it's huge. Most of the space are used as Greenhouse or herb gardens. Grandmother has been taking care of her precious herbs almost all her life, and she is an excellent traditional medicine doctor. Although I suspect she begin her studies with herbs because she wanted to poison Grandfather... But Grandfather is now dead. If he didn't die from diabetes I would've asked for an autopsy to prove what my Grandmother is capable of.

I think it's my Grandmother's dearest wish in life for me to go into medicine. Yes, medicine-with countless herbs to memorize, countless body muscles or bones to read over, and if one mishaps happens, it all falls apart. No, no, no. I swore to myself that I would not go into medicine for one, because I am a coward. Two, because I am not responsible, three, I love arts. Painting, reading, stories. So I chose arts.

My grandmother did not give up. Because she contacted my university Dean, who supposed is her cousin twice removed or something, and asked him to place me in a health science minor-specializing in traditional medicines. I had no choice. And for five years in a row, my professor for each course is taught by Tsunade-sama. Who, of course, is a total slack. But that doesn't mean I can slack. She adopts this "do as I say, not as I do" motto in life, and often give us pop quizzes while crunching on chocolate in front of us.

In truth, by the time we get to our fifth year, there's only like... four or five students in our class now. My best friend, Ino is in my class, along with Tenten. Then there's this really weird but androgynous kid names Sai, and the last one is this girl who just transferred and I swear that she's like in her teens. I mean, isn't there a rule in university that won't allow kids younger than 16 or something to attend? I can guarantee this kid is stretching it even at 16. Because I don't want to feel inferior to her, I often avoid her. It's not a surprise that she has the best grade out of all of us, and seconded by Sai.

That pretty much sums up my academic life... don't worry, more complaints will flow out later on. Now, to the biggest mess I have-had.

I was engaged to this guy.. Who is rich and cute and wonderful. He was my everything. He was sunny, bright, fun, goofy, awesome and perfect-until I caught him cheating on me.

Well to make a long story short, I walked in on him a few month ago having sex with someone else. And that someone else-is a man.

Yes a man. A man, a man, a man.

I didn't really get a good look at that man, because at that moment, I went CRAZY. He should be thankful that I didn't bring my tablet with me that day, because I would've undoubtly thrown it at him. I would've raised my bag, and swung it towards that ridiculously blond head of his. I would not regret it either, because at that moment I think I just lost it.

After a tantrum-I am ashamed to admit yes I did through a tantrum. But what is a girl supposed to do? Just take it when your fiancee is shacking up with another guy?

Well technically we're not really engaged. He just put a crazily expensive wedding band around my finger two years ago, and somehow that made me think I belong to him, and he me.

Let this be a warning for all the lovely ladies out there. Don't give all the heart.

However, I am happy to say, I got my life back on track.

Despite the constant pestering my ex-fiancee did to me, I refused him straight out. Ino even criticized me, probably because Naurto has been pestering her asking me to talk to him. But she said, and i quote her exact words, "Sakura, you don't leave space or second chances out for people, don't you?"

It's not that I have too much dignity to do so, it's the exact opposite. I really don't want to do so because I'm scared it will happen to me again-and this time, I won't be able to put my life back together.

Another blow came after the discovery of the affair. I was fired from my intern company. I was working as a translator at Uchiha Corp, but the week after my tantrum, I was called up to my boss's boss's office, and it turned out Uchiha Sasuke was the one who was fucking my ex-fiancee.

He is the type of person that nobody-and I meant nobody, is able to read. He is the type of person that without a doubt-is the definition of danger itself. I did not know what he called me up there for, but the moment I saw him I recognize him. Which surprised even me, because come on. All I saw of him was like his head, his upper body, and a sheet wrapping around his waist. How could I have recognized him?

Now that I think about it, It was his aura.

He was born with this aura of rule, of power, of domination that does not take refusal of defiance lightly. So in the spirit of things, I screamed at him and yelled at him and threw his pretentious paper weight on his desk at his head and yelled, "I quit. I, Haruno Sakura, here by fucking quit. Quit, motherfucker!"

I really, really don't want to rethink back to how he looked or felt at that time. Especially when I received a letter from his older brother to my Grandmother apologizing for his brother's promiscuous behaviour, and asking politely my job is still there if I want it back. I was so close to getting a real job, after interning in that stupid company for 3 three years part time.

I failed... of course.

Becuase of my stupid hubris, I refuse to go back. And nobody can make me.

Nobody actually did. Grandmother simply folded the paper up and tsked, "Well now. Isn't that just a surprise. There's all sorts of eggs in this world."

I think the subtext behind her sentence was, "I never knew Naruto was a gay egg."

Alas, it's all in the past.

The reason I'm writing this NOW, is because something else awful happened today.

I was supposed to receive a call back from a series of interview I did to be a dorm resident assistant. Because I thought, I'm basically living at school now, why not apply to be a resident assistant, so I can watch over freshmen kids, and also live there for free? I went to the interviews and did as best as i possibly could, and they told me they would get back to me by the end of the week, and now it's Saturday night and I'm here writing stuff with a heavy heart. I didn't get their results and I secretly knew that I failed. Which is completely BS, because I was the best candidate out of all the rest. There was three potential candidates in total. If I'm not the best, I can't be the last. So I am the best.

Since that fell through, basically my dream of living somewhere else for the summer just dried up. I am stuck here in this old house with my Grandmother ruling over my life, cutting up herbs and snipping leaves and grind them and watch my grandmother treat patients and sometimes hear their painful scream from acupuncture. Most people take acupuncture like it's ninjas throwing stars at them, but in actuality it's a hair thin needle going into your skin. You're lucky if you feel it.

Now, at the end of the day, with snow falling outside and the cold window pressing against my arm, I re-evaluate my feels for the first time for this past four month of so, ever since the year started... and I seriously, seriously think that...

I feel more disappointed about not living alone rather than having a gay fiancee all these time.

Did I love him?

Oh Sakura, that's a road you're not going down on. because most likely you won't come up.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

A/N: Muahaha.


	12. Diary, Burnt-2

A/N: Please consider this a crack-fic. Don't read if you would like to read good writing.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

April 20, 2013

I.

My stupid literary theory class exam is coming up. I am cramming my head off. But before all that, I have been filling bits and pieces of this week into my diary so that I can organize my thought and then write them down to give a complete report to my imaginary readers, who of course love my story and writing. Because come on, it's as interesting as hell.

Ino and I were browsing through Yaoi mangas last Saturday in Chapters. Meanwhile Ino was signing her name on the letter we wrote to the manager of Chapters of a complaint that pray for him to separate Yaoi manga from regular manga. We wrote it professionally, of course.

"To whom it may concern,

I have a complaint. You see in the world of manga, there are generally two types of illustrators. The ones who supports heterosexual relationships, and one that does not. Unfortunately, for those readers who are not comfortable reading homosexual mangas, it becomes disturbing for us if they are mixed up in one shelf. We are not against the homosexuals, we simply would like them to be shelved in different shelves so we do not pick up a book and fell in love with it but it turned out to be gay porn. I am extremely sorry for the trouble but legal actions will be taken if we do not reach a compromise. The following are 231 signatures of fellow Chapters' customers.

Sincerely, Not-Yaoi Fan Girls"

And the rest of the signatures are all from the yaoi fangirl's club.

We thought it's high time for us to separate the yaoi mangas from the straight mangas. While I enjoy both, but after finding out my fiancee is re-enacting the exact same scene from Junjo Romantica, I decided to read more into yaoi manga to understand the psyche of my ex-fiancee and his lover. It was not the best place to study from, as I really don't know if the manga artists are kidding when they illustrate the following conversation:

Top: [grasp onto Bottom's arms and pushed him up against a wall], running away, are you? [Cue evil smile.]

Bottom: [blushes and looks away] Let go of me~~ Let go~~

Top: [More evil smile, accompanied by a low chuckle], Mhmm... you're pink, I wonder where else you're pink... I intend to find out. I can wait to bury myself inside you~~ [Then cue squeezing and touching action].

Bottom: [Groans] You're so bad~~

And that's basically how it goes on.

I asked Ino, "Dude, add a pair of boobs to this cute little boy and it's a shojo manga."

"Boy-girl (otherwise known as BG manga) manga just doesn't cut it anymore. We want kinks, we want stimulation." Ino said. "Besides, didn't I tell you about my theory of yaoi fans?"

"You did." I rolled my eyes.

Her theory was simple. Imagine a wildly romantic movie or book. Where everything is what a girl dreamt and want. The girl is watching or reading it while living her fantasy, because the male protagonist is super hot and good looking. Now if a extremely pretty female protagonist is paired up with him, then the readers would be mad. They'd be goin, "Bitch get away from ma man." If an average and plain girl got paired up with him, the readers will be outraged. "Bitch, I look better than dat!"

So the only solution is to pair up the hot guy with another man. It doesn't really matter if that man is hot or not, just as long as he's cute. The readers then won't have a public outcry and threaten to slaughter the author.

This was her simple theory, but she managed to write an essay on it in our Queer Theory cultural studies course.

"Besides," Ino adds. "The only true love out there is man on man love."

"How so?"

"'Cuz men don't bitch, Sakura."

I stared at her, and then said, "Ino, are you ever going to get married?"

"Of course I am." Ino said. "I'm going to marry Shikamaru, then dump him mercilessly, and then date Sai. Afterwards I'll dump him too and then pair both of them up with each other."

I looked away in shame because I did not want the passerby to think I know this girl.

Both of us sat down in Starbucks as Ino begin to fondle the new series she bought. Her family is rich so she can afford them. My family isn't too bad, but I'd much rather spent my money on clothing and things that makes me prettier. Although I can honestly say that i give up a little after the whole fiancee fiasco, as I realize no matter how many amount of make up or brand names I buy, they would be me happy, yes, but they would not help me seduce a man who is gay.

"Are you thinking about Naruto again?" Ino frowned.

"No." I denied pathetically.

"I have a piece of information that might make you feel better." She whispered.

I raised my eyebrows.

"Shizune, she graduated a few years ago, and now she's the family doctor of Uchihas." Ino looked around before whispering, "I talk to her every now and then, and guess what she told me."

"What?"

"She told me that... The younger Uchiha is not gay."

"What?" I stared at Ino, "That's impossible."

"Let me finish." Ino give me a glare. "He's not gay, but he's bisexual."

I felt a lump in my throat.

"Apparently he slept with half the town."

"So he's the type of guy that has no standards." I said while I honestly don't know what to feel."

"Correct." Ino give me a pat on the back. "Don't worry. I-Oh, Sai's text. Look."

I looked over on her phone, it's Sai. He texted, Ino, Sakura, help me with Prof. J. Paper due by the end of Summer.

Ino texted back, Prof. J, huh. Art thy love-hole-on thy bottom-still intact?

Sai's reply, I condemn thee, thy love-hole isn't intact. Thou and thy entire family's love-hole isn't intact.

We both were laughing our head off-except, that's when I saw Naruto's head plastered on the Starbucks's glass window. He's staring at me with such longing and guilt that I had to look away.

He didn't come in, because he knows that I have a restraining order against him. I stood up solemnly and picked up my coffee while politely asking my Barista if I could leave through the back door.

II.

On Monday, I went to school to show Tsunade my research and data. She scanned it over in five minutes and asked, "Derive a thesis by the end of the week. Your research is too messy for me to tell."

She didn't slam it, so yay for me.

I was so happy I almost bounced all the way to the lab, where Ino was in her lab coat and grinding deer antlers into dust. I sat behind her and watched as she carefully calculated the exact amount on the scale and dumped it into a beaker with a boiling brown liquid.

"If I didn't know you better, I'd say you're making an aphrodisiac for men... to use against other men." I said.

She turn back to glare at me through her goggles, and said, "who said I didn't try?"

"Did it work?"

"Ask Shikamaru."

Shikamaru is one of the main DA working along side the commissioner.

Then I decided it's probably time to get an expert opinion on this.

"So Ino, I was thinking..." I begin.

She sat down beside her boiling brown liquid.

"Do you think... Naruto is into... BDSM?" I asked.

This is the type of question that would never, ever, phase Ino. Infact she once wrote a paper on BDSM. I read it, it's quite interesting, and twisted.

"Naruto?" Ino thought back of her impression of him, and then shook her head, "Nah."

"How could you tell?" I asked, "I mean that guy, that Sasuke guy, he looks like a Dom."

"Sasuke?" Ino thought back, "Nah."

"How could you tell?" I glared.

"Well." Ino begin, "If they entered a Dom-sub relationship, there will be signs. Despite what you think, BDSM relationships are not that common."

Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking about, how common it is.

She then said, "think about Naruto's family, the Uzumakis. Would they allow their son to be a sub? And besides, if something as big as this is going on between those two, I can definitely tell. Normally there's lack of nutrition, then signs of bruise in unexpected places, in more extreme cases, piercing, public humiliation, or forced orgasm. So far I have concrete proof that Naruto doesn't even see Sasuke anymore."

"The fuck?" I asked, "how can you get in touch with the two of them?"

"My dad work in the police. Interrogation unit, duh." Ino rolled her eyes. "Tracking someone is easy."

I stared.

"Ok, I admit. I was intrigued by their relationship. Especially since Sasuke is so hot." She giggled, "I was hoping to capture the two of them on camera of video, then I will write a novel about it-forbidden relationships-when will this pure bitter sweet torture end, ah, my poor heart..."

I don't quite know how to respond to that. Luckily Tenten came in. She asked straight away, "How's the Chapter's protest going?"

"It's goin'." I replied. "I don't know if Chapters will take us seriously though. Especially when we forged like 100 signatures."

"They fucking better." Tenten raised her voice, "I'm tired of going to the manga section, picking up a beautifully drawn book and it turned out to be a BG manga, I mean, just shoot me."

"I agree." Ino rolled her eyes, "I am sure if given the chance, I can convert every girl on campus to yaoi-fangirls. Then I will go on with my grand mission and convert the guys to yaoi-fanboys."

"Your only accomplishment so far is Sai... and you sort of failed. He's going out with someone and we don't even know the gender." I hide my laughter by pressing a napkin on my mouth. Because we're all girls in our glass, we all tried very hard to pressure Sai into reading yaoi books and manga. He does what we tell him to do-he seriously reads them. But I have a feeling he doesn't get pleasure from it. Because after he finishes with them, Ino quizzes him, and he answers like he was just reading a text book.

"I'm going to be real disappointed if Sai's lover is a girl." Ino declared. "Just when you thought you know a guy for two years, he pulls a fast one on you and dates a girl. Ugh!"

Sai was just entering the lab, but upon hearing Ino's declaration, he retreated quietly and ran away.

III.

I spent the next couple of days working my ass off on my thesis. I took my work to the Starbucks in downtown during the day. There's too much crowded students in the library on campus during the day, and in downtown everyone's working in an office, so Starbucks is fairly quiet-in individual secluded booths.

This booth is a magical booth. It blocks out the sounds while it gives you a superb view of the streets. And also it's the perfect distance from the door and the speaker, so it's not too cold nor too loud. Unfortunately, someone was sitting there when I approached. She's a pretty red-headed girl.

I spent three seconds to adjust my expression in the lewdest way possible, then I smiled-no, grimaced-at her and winked, "Girl, you're pretty. Gimme your number?"

"Bitch!" She yelled before taking her drink with her and ran away.

I took my booth with pride and dignity.

In truth I was very far away from a thesis. I still have to re-organize my data and derive some sort of pattern from it. It's driving me crazy because Tsunade insisted there is more to the Styphnolobium japonicum than its sweet flavor and deliciousness. It's a salad my Grandmother makes everyday during the summer from pagoda trees. I used to hated collecting them because the petals fly everywhere. If I have to discover some sort of combination that could be potentially lethal or potentially cure cancer, I hope Tsunade doesn't expect me to do it in this life time, because I will stab myself through the-

Son of a bitch.

I looked up from my tablet and saw the Uchiha Sasuke is sitting right in front of me.

He's dressed in a tux. A fine tux. A tux I could recognize that is made from silk. Or some variation of. His tie seemed to be sparkling, and I realized it's criss-crossed with rose gold threads. His hair seemed to have this "roll out of bed" look that make it tousled and sexy, while his eyes are fixated on me and his lips curled into a slight smile-so slight I can't even tell if he is smiling or not. All I know is that he's not mad, but he's not happy either.

If I wasn't weak in my knees, I'd tell him, 'Bitch you stole my fiancee. Get out of my sight."

But alas, I was weak in my knees, and my brain start to hurt from his eyes, which I swore could shoot out lightening and zap me in a repeated euphoria. And it's even worse when he begin to speak.

"Sakura."

I suddenly found myself staring at him and begging him to keep on talking. Talk, you son of a bitch! For the love of god say my name again, and again, and again!

However, my pride and reason always won over my emotional desires. As I sat straight and looked back at him with cold eyes, I said, "Uchiha, leave me alone."

"Pardon me, Sakura-san." He begin, "I would like to-"

I did not let him finish. Because I poured my half drank cold green-tea latte over his suit. He was so surprised he widened his eyes for a fraction and stared at me. Using this time I packed up my crap and stuffed them in my leather bag, which I regret not carrying a backpack this morning, and ran out the door before he could do anything else.

It should be a fundamental law that one should not have to talk to her ex-fiancee or her ex-fiancee's lover. As both disgusts me to the point that would loose my appetite for the rest of the day. Especially when I have tiramisu lined up in the fridge for me.

Besides, I warned him not to approach me. I told him to leave me alone.

IV.

Chapters replied, they said they will consider it.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

I'm making "Burnt" Into an independent story. With all its grammatical mistakes and etc.


	14. Fracture-1

I.

It felt so weird, being back here in this city after five years of desperately trying to avoid it.

But it's such a wonderful city. Some may say it's the best in the world. The party always goes on and on, and there is no such thing as quiet hours here. In the center it always looked posh and sharp, as if a razor blade ready to poke through skins.

The strong sense of nostalgia hit me like a hurricane the moment I stepped off the plane. I remember how I felt the last time I stepped on this soil, and how desperate and hopeless I was, and how the yelling and the screaming behind me was almost enough to make me turn around...

I feel no regret.

But this thing, this reunion... is what unnerved me. I don't think I am able to go through with this if everyone was present, and I don't think I have the ability to smile at everybody when they have this pre-conception of me as a bitch. I don't know what to do though, I must attend this-to prove to myself that I need to move on, and it's time to find closure.

Sometimes I think drama barges in and rapes my life, then it got up and left, leaving only whimpers and sobs.

II.

The reunion is taking in a place that I could never afford. It's not a surprise at all, however, as the school I went to was fairly prestigious, and some may say that it guarantees your career and life-certainly wasn't true, but people believe what they want to.

I stood outside and in front of the restaurant, looking up at the tall building and felt a little blinded by its gold and flashy letters. They were so bright and colorful that they're taking all the attention over to themselves. It does not lack class, as the whole thing was furnished with marble, ivory, and glass. There's a very large statue in front inside a water fountain, and apparently there isn't any coins in it. I have a slight suspicion that the cleaning crew cleans it up every hour.

I fumbled in my fake leather purse to try to find a coin, and at last I found a dollar. But it's enough for my breakfast, if I buy some buns. It's also the cost of a pop, if I'm thirsty. I was debating whether or not to use it, when I caught the flashing tail light that shone in my face. Quickly, I dumped the coin in and made a wish while running into the restaurant.

I told the waiter the reservation, and he directed me to floor thirteen-it hit me, because this number was his favorite.

It was not quiet when I stepped out, but I knew that they had this entire floor booked.

I was right. In the center, there was a very large table that could fit around 20 people, and the spinning glass rotisserie that made it convenient for all dishes that will be accessible to everyone. I walked towards them, and not to my surprise, everyone fell silent.

There was a total of around seven or eight people there already. None of them spoke for a few excruciating seconds as they stared at me. Finally, a blond haired girl in gorgeous traditional dress that have slits on the calf area stood up and smiled at me, "I didn't think you would come."

I unconsciously tossed my pink hair back, "What else are you guys going to talk about?"

Her smile went a bit sour as she directed me to the seat next to her, "here."

"Thank you, Temari." I breathed out, and sat down.

She then made it a point to introduce the people around the tables, "That's Kiba, you know. Kankuro, my brother, Gaara, my little brother. Hinata and Neji. Choji over there. Here-I don't think you've met Karin. She graduated a couple of years younger than us."

I smiled at the red haired girl while keeping my eye contact brief with the rest of the crew. They were so familiar that it was almost painful.

Karin's smile was as fake as it could come, "I've heard so much about you."

"Mhmm." I didn't bother to even think of a reply.

"We were just about to order." Temari said, handing me a menu. "Is there anything you like?"

I took the menu purely because I don't want to take other people's stares. And I figured if I pretend I am a duck then people will shift their attention away from me again.

Sure enough, people started talking again.

I listened to a couple of conversation that were close to me, and immediately discovered that Karin is the perfect girl in most guys' eyes. The way she laughs, drinks, and makes jokes it as entertaining as it could get. Her eyes twinkled bright when she knows someone is staring at her, and even though she isn't that much younger than me, I felt as if we were twenty years age apart. She is practically a teenager, with her mood swings and carefree attitude. I on the other hand, lost interest in everything and have a bland attitude.

"Karin-san, I think we should order these wings..." Kiba pointed at a particular page on the menu.

"I don't like eating them." She crinkled her nose.

"Then calamari?"

"Ew..."

"Karin-chan-"

Karin immediately used a shrilly voice, " 'Karin-chan' isn't something that could be used by the likes of you!"

Kiba was immediately embarrassed, "I meant... I..."

She immediately smiled and switched the subject, "Calamari sounds good, but I think I want something light, like a salad..."

And Kiba proceeds to flip to the salad page.

I stared at the whole thing in amazement and wondered when did Kiba roll his balls back up, but then the sound of the elevator came, and we shifted our eyes towards the door.

A bright and yellow bouncing entity entered our view, It must be raining outside because he was shaking off the excess water on his jacket, "Damn rain, if only I came a little later-it stopped when I just came in-where is that bastard, of course he couldn't allow himself to get wet-Oh my god, Sakura-chan!"

I cringed at the sight of him, but only because I think of myself as beneath him. I don't want to face him because he is so much better than I am inside. He has a forgiving nature that triumphs all evil, and I wished I could stay around him for a while during these past five years-because he is like a sun that I get solar enery from.

"Naruto." I smiled and hugged him fiercely. Just looking at him made me felt much better.

That's when I heard a small voice, "She's certainly making her way around the group."

The humiliation hit me that I let go of Naruto, but he refuse to end contact with me, so he hugged me arm and smiled like a child, "I haven't seen you in five years, Sakura-chan, five years!"

The elevator went ding, and out came a voice that I have imprinted in my brain, "Idiot, did you get caught in the rain?"

That was the moment when I wanted to turn around and run.

Naruto however, wouldn't let go of me as he yelled, "look, Sasuke, it's Sakura-chan, she came back! I told you she would!"

I moved my head painfully to gather the courage to look at that figure, and what surprised me was that he wasn't alone-in fact he was with-

"Ino!" I gasped out.

She gave me a light an uncaring smile before she held onto his arm tighter. That was when I noticed that she was hanging on to him, which meant-

Oh my god, she's with him.

His cold voice came again, "So it would seem."

That was it, I could live with the pain, I could live with the suffering. This, I cannot leave with, and I don't ever want to see. I quickly pulled my arm from Naruto and said, "I need to leave-"

Then the daunting voice sneered at me, "Scared?"

I took a deep breath and turn to face that man head on, and his eyes was so powerful it almost stuck me down. His entire posture was straight but lazy, with casual jacket and white shirt, and his hair messy but probably took hours to create, and hislips crooked in a mocking smile that make my heart ache.

Before I could open my mouth to say anything, a bright red figure pushed passed me and went straight for him, hanging on to his other arm and shook it in an almost pleading manner, "Sasuke-kun..."

He looked down at her and smiled while patting her head, "Karin-chan."

I stared at the scene as if the whole thing was ridiculous. How many concubine does this person have? I shifted my eyes towards Ino, whose smile stiffened a little before she quickly replaced it with a wider smile, "Karin-chan, how is everything?"

She obvious did not like Ino to use it, but in front of Sasuke, she pursed her lips and nodded a little before leaning her head against his arm.

As if the whole world was made clear-so basically this reunion is a Sasuke fan reunion. I am not welcome because they will bash me to death, and the humiliation would be-

Before I could decide to leave and force myself to back out, he walked towards me, which made me back off a few steps, and he spoke, "Let's all sit down."

Naruto quickly yelled, "Yes, let's all sit down! Come on, let's face it. We haven't seen each other in such a long time!" And he dragged me to the seat next to him. I am stuck in between this yellow sun and Temari, whose eyes were sadder than a cold night in Antarctica.

"Did anyone order?" His voice came again. I looked up and saw him sitting directly across from me. His eyes didn't glance upon me at all, and after ten seconds of staring at him, I quickly avoided my gaze and looked down again.

"Gave me the menu." Ino said calmly, reaching for it, "there are some dishes that I need to gave specific instructions on."

I stared at her and felt as if this world is lying to me. Ino? How could Ino ever act so calm? She was the girl who we all went partying with five years ago, and she was the girl who came late to class, wore lip gloss to tests, and have all kinds of crazy and sexy ripped clothing. Her attire over here looked more like a rich lady who has nothing to do other than manning the house and servants, which is perhaps what she is doing-

Is she married?

This thought came so sudden it made me couch down a little in pain. Is she married to him? Is he married then? He married... he...

It took everything I could do not to cry right then and there. Over these last five years, I have shed so much tears that I couldn't possibly do more. But if this is what I came back to, I want to have something beside me that could end all my sufferings instantly.

I quickly raised my head to scan for a ring on their finger- Ino has one, and it's so bright on her left hand. and she didn't even try to display it as obvious as possible. My eyes went to Sasuke, and-

No ring.

I could feel myself gave out a sigh of visible relief, and that was when my eyes caught his-and he sneered at me.

Shame rose up to my cheeks. He knew, of course he knew. He was the type of person who would know everything by staring at it it. He was the type of person who could read you like the back of his hand. He was the great Uchiha Sasuke, and he was omnipotent.

The waiter came, and immediately followed by a large voice, "Everybody! Welcome me!"

I looked behind me, and saw Killer Bee, who insisted on that ridiculous name for no apparent reason even back in university, and behind him was the determined pair of eyes who have always followed me around.

"Lee." I stood up, feeling a little over whelmed.

Rock Lee's eyes widened so large at the sight of me, and he quickly ran over to gave me a large hug, "Sakura-chan!"

And my heart warmed a little at the gesture. "I... Hi."

"I didn't know you were coming!" He yelled, "I almost didn't come!"

"How often do you check your email?" Karin laughed at him, "Everybody knew she was coming."

And then there was this sense of betrayal. As it turned out everybody knew I was coming except for me. How ridiculous is this?

"Let's order!" Killer Bee yelled, "I already told the waiter I want extra skewered chicken and wings!"

"I want some salad for the table at least!" Rock Lee released me and quickly went to the waiter, "I knew you all would order meat, especially with Naruto around-"

Naruto was in the process of doing a special handshake with Killer Bee, and he stopped and yelled at Lee, "I resent that!"

Everyone started talking with each other again. I sat back down in my seat and held onto my glass of water. It has hints of honey, mint, and lemon in it. Apparently in this place, even water is treated with special care.

"Everyone order a lot! It's Sasuke's treat today!" Naruto yelled.

Everyone cheered, and I sincerely wondered if Sasuke himself knew that he was treating everyone. But his expression gave away nothing as he wore a slight smile and poured some wine in Ino's glass. She accepted with a smile too, and as if those two had their hearts aligned with one another, they raised their glass simultaneously, which caused us all to raise our glass.

"To power." He spoke, and everyone followed.

I drank a little of my water, and put the glass down. His toast had particular meaning that I really don't want to revisit, and that was when Temari edged closer to me and explained, "Sasuke is the owner of Uchiha Corp. now, did you know?"

I can't say that I didn't. One of the reason that I came back is because it's who is in charge now, not his grandfather. I don't mean to curse the dead, but I am positive that many people in this world were happy that Uchiha Madara's sudden passing.

I quickly reminded myself to get through this dinner with as much comfort as I could, and then find a moment to talk to him in private. I have things- a lot of things, to tell him, and then ask for his forgiveness. I have a flight booked tomorrow afternoon that I must get onto, because I don't want to spend another minute in this city if I don't have to.

"I knew." I replied to Temari, "but only from the news. I didn't pay attention to our fellow classmates."

"Of course you didn't." She said in a cruel voice, "only Tenten, right?"

Her voice was not very loud, but Neji, who sat close to us, stared at me with an intent. "How is she?"

I could feel my voice croak. Dear, dear, Tenten. Is this what you wanted?

"She's fine." I said finally, refusing to gave out anymore information.

Neji pursued, "Where is she?"

I answered, "she's roaming the world. Last time I heard from her was six months ago, and she was in South Africa."

He closed his eyes in an almost painful fashion. "I see."

The waiter begin to send dishes one after another. I looked down at my stomach, and even though everyone didn't mention it, I knew I have gained weight since the last time I saw them, and it was a strange feeling, to notice how everybody else was so successful, and after all I did, I ended up with nothing.

There was chats and conversations all around. Mostly nostalgic memories, what happened back then, whose professor we pranked, and whose class we took. Then Naruto almost burst in laughing at something, which caused us all to look at him.

"I remember something." He laughed harder than ever, "I was still in law, and Sakura can't get into Sasuke's class next door, and my class was still quite large, so she came over. She almost fell asleep because Bingham was so boring, and suddenly he pointed at Sakura and yelled, "Answer this! If A and B violated clause IV and sub clause iii, what action or measure should we take?"

I quickly turned away, this was an embarrassing story.

Naruto paused a few seconds for dramatic effect, and then dropped his eyes and imitated my voice, "And Sakura answered, 'I think...we should all put them in jail!'"

Many people laughed and chuckled at this little anecdote, and Naruto has a knack for talking more than he was supposed to. Because he continued, "Bingham was so shocked he opened his mouth for like three seconds, and that was when class ended, Sasuke stood in front of our doorway and was waiting for his girlfriend, and she was embarrassed from her answer she almost ran into his arms and knocking him over. He was asking me what was the matter but I laughed too hard to even speak, and she dragged him away-"

Karin's voice came. "Didn't this happen two weeks before she dumped him at his graduation?"

I stared at her incredulously, and noticed a widened smile on Ino and a contempt expression on Sasuke.

Naruto answered, "Yeah, but that came later."

"Man." Killer Bee said, "I can't believe somebody actually had the balls to dump Uchiha."

I looked away uncomfortably, and Temari spoke, "you were in your Buddhism phase. You went crazy with lack of meat."

"Makes sense. That part of my memory is practically blank." He said.

Finally Sasuke spoke, "Pass me the shrimps."

And Ino quickly twirled the glass panel and took a few shrimps. She carefully peeled the shells off and lay them within his plate.

This was something he did to me, because I loved eating them and hated peeling the. He used to order a plate of shrimps and peel them carefully in front of me. I would look at him with puppy eyes and eat one as soon as he finished peeling one.

This must be a life time ago. Because I could hardly remember it.

I looked up from immersing myself in my memory, and found his gaze locked to mine. The difference was that mine was scared, but his eyes were venomous.

He must hate me.

That thought was also very painful to bare, and I found myself silently mourning for my dignity on the inside.

"I heard Uchiha Corp had a ten percent increase in revenue this business quarter." Karin suddenly said to Sasuke, "Sasuke-kun, you work too hard."

Her voice was sweet and smiley, with large eye and lashes fluttering at him, like a girl holding adoration for her favorite movie star.

Ino's expression, however, was not calm. She did not seem to be threatened by Karin at all, and I would have to say the feeling was mutual for both of them. Karin did not care for Ino, and she personally thinks that Ino's appearance beside Sasuke is nothing more than a inconvenience.

I lowered my head further. Even looking at the women in his life is a pain for me. Like a small needle repeated poking into the most sensitive point in my heart.

"The result was insignificant." He replied, "I am going to a major revision with the employees. There are things that need to be trimmed off from one's life, like cancer." He looked at me and continued, "and there are some people who lies and shamelessly comes back to flaunt whatever insignificant life they have."

I could feel everybody's gaze on me. and I want to turn around and run. Expect I can't, because that is not who I am. I am Sakura, the one who isn't afraid of anything. So I raised my head and answered, "Or fools who misunderstands and stubbornly hold prejudice for the rest of their lives."

At this point the entire table was as quiet as a vacuum, even the sound of eating stopped.

He stared at me with this hatred that almost burnt me alive. I forced myself to meet his gaze, because I can't fail. I have nothing to be afraid of-because I have done nothing wrong.

So I sat straighter and stared back at him, which he suddenly turned into a cruel and sinister smile before turning to Karin, "So, birthday? A tiffany diamond bracelet you said?"

Karin bit her lips, then changed her expression from anger to a bright smile, "Yes, the tear drop shape that hung down-it's so beautiful, are you really going to get it?"

"Sure." His voice was light while tossing her a platinum card, "Get two. One for Ino."

"It's limited edition-"Karin begin.

"Then get something else." He narrowed his eyes.

She fell silent.

Naruto broke the ice, "Wow, moneybags. Show off much?"

Sasuke tossed him a glance, "More than a DA's salary, I'm sure."

I was caught by surprise. Which I stared at Naruto and very impressed, "You're a district attorney now?"

He nodded bashfully.

I stared up at him and answered, "Naruto-kun, this is wonderful. This has been your dream ever since you were seventeen."

"I know." He laughed, "I was horrible at school too, but if I buckle down, I could get through it-barely. I'm sure my dad helped a lot, but I'm happy with the way things are at the moment."

"Yes, congratulations, you are wonderful." I hugged him while kissing his cheeks.

He wiped away some sauce on his face before my lips touched them, and his voice was almost shrilly. "Sakura-chan, I am so glad you came back."

"Not for long though." I said, going back to my food. I had a small plate of coconut rice and some spicy chicken set aside. "I am... I have a flight tomorrow."

Clack!

I looked up at across the table, and saw Uchiha Sasuke's hand crushed his wine class, and the dark red liquid mixed with his blood, trailing down his forearm.

"Oh my god." Ino stood up and immediately pressed the service button for a waiter.

"You're leaving tomorrow?" Sasuke's voice was demanding and grim.

I was painfully aware of the stares and judgement looks, "Yes."

He closed his eyes and let out a long breath. After about five seconds, he opened them and bit out a, "good for you, Haruno Sakura, good for you."

III.

There was a kind of love that wouldn't fade even after a life time, and when I found Uchiha Sasuke, I was determined that he was it.

University lasted for four long years, and I was with him for three and half of them.

He was already the talk of the town when he enrolled in our program. He was destined to follow the footstep of his grandfather, father, and brother. He was the dream in all girl's eyes, and he was cold, unnerving, and incredibly lonely.

If someone were to judge me, I would have no defences. I would agree that indeed I had no shame back then. I pursuit him relentlessly, I followed him everywhere, and I gave all the comfort that I could offer, and he finally agreed.

It was only a curtsey, an agreement that this has happened. Needless to say, even though he agreed, we really were not a couple. He was knee deep in courses and I could hardly see him, while facing objections of our union from all sides.

For the first few month of us going out, he made no indication of acknowledging that he has a girlfriend. He never called me, never texted, and never went out with me. He rarely attend social occasions anyways, but it really did have an impact. When all of my friends have boyfriends that cuddles and loved them to death, I had someone who is a star, but burnt me as he shone.

I really, really, envied Tenten.

I was calmer and more talented than her, in my mind. She is wilder and prone to more accidents. If it weren't for a life saving incident, we wouldn't be friends. But after we were best friends, I discovered she doesn't have a lot of guys around her-she only has one.

Neji.

He took care of her in every way possible. He planned her meals, registered for her classes, took her out to wherever she wanted to explore, and tutored her when she failed tests. However she has no sense of having a relationship in her mind, and she did not care if Neji screwed around with other girls-he didn't, of course-but the point is, she wouldn't care if he did.

However he loved her so unconditionally that it was heart breaking.

I discovered the trend, and found out that I was the person who gave everything of mine to Uchiha Sasuke, and he returned nothing back.

Ino used to tell me, if he doesn't cheat on you, then everything is fine.

I was a hundred percent positive that he wouldn't cheat-not because he couldn't, but because he didn't care about it enough to.

But I endured it.

At the beginning of second year, I was introduced to Uzumaki Naruto.

For the first time, I realized how it feels to be loved.

To be fair, Naruto didn't even know Sasuke and I were going out.

How could he? Sasuke never went out. We rarely see each other, and I have never seen anyone other than his brother-who dropped in for a guest lecture-other than that, his attitude towards me was like a pool of blank water. There was no tides, no ripples, and no waves. It was flat and boring.

And on the valentine of that second year, I asked him if it's ok to take a break.

He gave a careless reply, and I walked out of his life, and into Uzumaki Naruto's.

Naruto never knew a care in the world, and often I found it harder to be with him than Sasuke. I had to scold him on his fashion sense, and whatever I cooked he always ate. He provided a place in the sun for me, and he generously gave me all the affections he had.

It lasted only fifteen days. Because when I turned around, I was within Sasuke's embrace, and for the time I have ever seen him, he begged me to come back.

I cracked down-of course I did-I could never resist him. I want him more than anything in the world, and to actually felt he divided even a tiny part of him back to me, was enough.

It was better to be friends with Naruto anyways, I concluded, and he agreed that it was better to be friends. His bright smile didn't fully cover up his sadness, but I know that he didn't love me-at least, not yet. I convinced myself and was relieved that I made the right choice.

After a brutal session of exams, I found out something awful.

At the end of second year, the beginning of summer, I over heard a conversation between Sasuke and his brother.

The Uchihas were a prominent family, and Uchiha Sasuke was raised in arrogance, pride, favored over millions, and there was nothing he couldn't control.

The Uzumakis however, was the main pillar of government in this city. With Uzumaki Minato as the mayor that was just elected, the two families were at it with each other.

And so I became a meaningless and worthless thing to fight over purely because of his pride then.

That conversation chilled me to the bones. He has given me everything I have ever wanted, some light affection, a little attention, and a slight smile that would sent me up to the heavens, and what I heard tossed me to the deepest and darkest pits of hell.

But it hurts-it hurts so much, to be cut off from him completely at that moment.

I know, because I have tried. I tried not talking to him for a couple of days, and it killed me. I wanted desperately to be near him and to even look at him when he was working. And because of this, I begin to start distancing myself from him. I made it a point that I need to visit my parents for the summer, and using that summer, I slowly but surely, dropped any interaction with him.

I was in a depression phase, and Ino noticed. She asked me what was wrong, and I told her that I decided not to see Uchiha Sasuke again. She was very surprised, but that didn't stop her from telling him when he asked.

On a bright and sunny afternoon, I strolled around the big and forested park behind my parent's community-we lived in a small town on the edge of the forest-and it started raining cats and dogs.

I was wearing a light sundress, and was very afraid of being caught in the rain. So I ran around to look for a small pavilion, and I found one. I went in and sat on the bench inside, looking at the rain falling down and washing away the dirt on the green leaves.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and jumped. Turning around, I found Uchiha Sasuke, in this insignificant small town, and drenched in rain.

"I love you." He spoke hoarsely. "I was stupid, ignorant, and foolish. I love you, please, please, forgive me."

He leaned down and kissed me, and I could taste it between his lips-happiness.

That was the beginning of my actual relationship with him, and the beginning of the best two years of my life.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

TBC

A/N: Don't know how much this will span, but couldn't be more than three chapters.


	15. Fracture-2

Chapter 2

I.

The reunion ended in a unhappy note, with Uchiha Sasuke breaking his hand on a wine glass. I stood up, and was about to leave when Naruto suddenly said, "Let me give you a ride."

I was about to accept when Temari replied, "Naruto, you're giving Hinata a ride, remember?"

He grumbled, "There's no reason not to do both."

"Each of us came with one or more person. Each of us has a designated driver, except for Killer Bee. He obviously can't drive right now. You need to send him home." Gaara suddenly spoke, backing his sister up.

Temari nodded, then continued, "I'm going with Shikamaru. Sakura, do you have a ride?"

"I'll take a cab." I muttered.

"How unpleasant." She said, "How about you go with Uchiha-san, Uchiha-san, do you mind taking her home?"

I was mortified, but then flipped my head up to stare at her, and found her talking to Sasuke, but actually speaking to Ino.

Then I shifted a glance at Shikamaru, who sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

So that's how it is. Temari, how sad and manipulative are you?

When I was certain he was going to refuse, he stared at me and spoke, "Let's go."

I noticed the difference in his tone. After his hand was treated by a group of paramedics, he seemed to be in colder and more stoic mood. I silently reassured myself that maybe he is being reasonable and decided to let go-and that would be the best state of mind for him. Because I am determined to reveal the truth to him, no matter what. I cannot bare the burden on my shoulders now. Before it crushes me, I need to get it off and start my new life-tomorrow afternoon when I board that plane to Australia.

Pardon me if I was a bit distracted, but when I knew what was going on, a limo pulled up to me and a chauffer opened the backseat door. I looked around and saw Sasuke and Ino staring at me, quickly, I waved my hands defensively in front of me, "No, I-I think I'm good, I don't need to..."

"Get, in."

The great Uchiha spoke, so I quickly snuck in, and sat at the farthest seat at the other side of the door. Inside has dim lights and champagne glasses, and I felt painfully out of place here. But it did not matter because I am not here to get dressed up and have a party. I have things to do, I have to talk to him.

How, though?

If we don't talk tonight, how could we ever talk again? He obviously doesn't want to gave me any choice, and I felt very awkward facing the two of them, sitting together. He in a tux, she, in a bright red dress.

That place beside him originally belonged to me. I found myself thinking furiously, but then self pity took over. I have no place in his life now, nor should I hope for any. I should aim with a smaller expectation, and I should comfort myself in the fact that I got this far here already.

The limo started moving, and the two of them are talking to each other.

Her voice was too soft for me to hear, and I sat so far away from them, I felt out of place. I pulled out my cellphone and decided to check my messages when his voice spoke again, "Do we bore you that much?"

I was startled by him, but didn't want to defy him, especially since I want to ask him to gave me five minutes of his time later. So I put it away in my bag and leaned my head against the window and muttered an apology. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her leaning her head against his shoulders. They stopped their conversation, but she's resting on him, and he made no objection to stop it.

I give the driver the name of my inn, and he made his way towards that shady little place on the edge of town. It was the best choice I could afford, since I need all the money I could get when I get to Australia the day after tomorrow. Thinking of this, I patted my bag as if patting a child. Inside contains my ticket to freedom, a happier life, new friends and new people. Maybe I will meet my future husband in Austrailia, maybe I will see her again...

When I recognize the path that's edging close to my inn, I turn to Sasuke and opened my mouth.

He was staring at me this entire time, and still remained expressionless when I tried to say something.

This was harder than I thought it would be.

I coughed a little, then tried again.

"Can I..."

He raised an eyebrow.

I quickly changed my tone. "May I... talk with you?"

His reply was chilling. "Talk?" Then sneer. "You want to talk now?"

I immediately cringed."Just five minutes, I just want five minutes."

"Isn't it too late? About five years too late?" He asked cruelly.

And from his eyes, his tone, and his voice, I knew that it was. Indeed it was. He moved on-he really did.

Maybe this was the best solution. Maybe this was the best way to realize that I need to move on too. It did not matter what happened in the past, because he doesn't care. If he doesn't care, then all I did meant nothing to him.

I know I am a coward. I know that I am naturally shy. I lack the real courage to go through with something if I needed. But I will do the right thing at the right time for others-and that may end up in delaying my own happiness, and I understand that. But what I don't understand was that I expected my happiness to stay here when I turned around-and he didn't. He left, without any regrets.

The limo eased to a stop. I gripped on my bag tightly and said to the both of them, "congratulations. I with you both all the happiness in the world."

I don't think I finished it without choking up a bit in the end but I quickly turned the handle beside me and attempt to stumble out. Before I placed both my feet firmly on the ground, my eyes watered and realized that really this was the last chance I will ever have to explain to him. I looked back at him, and saw the familiar cruelty in his eyes. I quickly got out and slam the door shut, then ran into that old and shaggy room on the fourth floor containing my luggage and the start of my new life.

This was it, then?

This was it.

II.

At the start of my third year in university, I was in heaven.

I had the world's most perfect boyfriend, with great looks, prominent family, rich and good grades. He had a long future ahead of him, and he was very interested in political science and international relations.

He and Naruto both had great ambitions. I gave them that. I enrolled in the art program, so basically I have nothing to do all day but bother Sasuke.

He spends a considerably amount of time with me, even if he was as busy as hell, he would squeeze time out to make me happy. His room is open to me all the time, and he never object to me being in his room when he was working.

I love him.

I love every bit and piece of him. I love it when he frowns, when he smiles, and his tender look casted on me when I was being a child. I love knowing that he loved me, and he really did spoilt me with everything he offered-which was everything.

I was the talk of the campus. I was every girl's dream.

But they didn't know, behind these dreams was two long years of delusions and lies that started at the beginning.

The first time I met his entire family-was when we attended his brother's wedding.

His brother was the legend of our campus. Itachi Uchiha accomplished his two doctoral degrees at the age of twenty, and he is slowly taking over the family business. He graduated around a time where the professors would fondly recall that was the "Golden Generations" of that university. And then they all stroke their beard, look at us, the current generation, and sigh.

I imagine our generation must be nick named something like "crappity crap crap generation". Because we partied, we had fun. We caused trouble, and we did our bare minimum for our degree.

But it was fun... yes it was.

Back to the wedding. I was at first, very overwhelmed and very scared to meet his family, and despite all his reassurance, I still had a large suspicion that his family was composed of mean and conservative people-and my suspicion was justified.

His father and his grandfather ruled over their entire business with an iron fist. They called the shots, and they planned their son's lives. And it was that moment, when I saw Sasuke's beautiful older brother standing at the aisle, emotionless and bored-I realized how horrible his family was.

They were never going to accept me. They act polite to me purely because of mannerism, and I knew that Sasuke would never marry me because-look at Uchiha Itachi.

Sasuke told me that his brother actually saw his fiancee a total of less than three times before he agreed to marry her. Out of these three time, their conversation didn't even stack up to more than twenty minutes.

She was beautiful-in a sharp way. Everything about the bride screamed luxury, and I knew because without money, she could not marry into this family.

it was the fanciest and the coldest wedding I have ever saw.

On the way back, Sasuke sensed my mood and what was wrong. He said, "you have nothing to worry about at all. We will cross that bridge when we come to it, and besides, all expectation and burden is already being carried by my brother. His whole life was to prepare him for taking over our business. I don't need to worry about it... much."

In his words of comfort, I could sense guilt and pain.

"We will get married one day, right?" I asked him quietly.

He made a dramatic u-turn and drove right in front of Tiffany's.

We bought our engagement ring that night.

III.

The ring was a simple design. Made from platinum or white gold... I don't know. But I loved it the moment I saw it. It was not terribly expensive, because I would hate to have something too flashy. That's some good way to loose some fingers. Instead it consist of a round band, and a small diamond encased on top, followed by a trail of a shiny line that resembled a shooting star.

I didn't dare wearing it after the day I left. Instead I found some red strings and I strung them though the ring, wearing it around my neck. I deliberately made it long so it could tuck into my shirt nicely without anybody noticing. It was so obvious that it was an engagement ring, but at the same time it was so incredibly precious to me that I could not bare to have it leaving my body.

But this time, where the ring lie around my neck, It felt like it was choking me.

When I first ran back into my inn, I clutched onto my chest and I had difficulty breathing. When I got into the elevator I started tapping my feet and gulping constantly to prevent myself from breaking down. Every part of my body starts to hurt-and it wasn't the physical kind. It was a self induced, psychological pain that made me ashamed of who I am, why I came back, and why I had the balls to face him.

Because deep down inside my heart-if I dug very, very deep- I was confident and foolish enough to imagine that when he saw me, he would remember how much he adored me, how much he spoilt me, and how much he wanted me to be happy. Because I would trade in these thoughts of his, for a few minutes of his time and ask him-beg him to please understand where I was coming from, and where I am going in the future.

I also had a brief fantasy of him breaking it off with Ino, and return back to me again. And he would comfort me for a the suffering I went though, and understand that I was not brave enough.

Now all these thoughts and images fell apart, with the reality tearing me apart in front of me. He hates me, and he loves someone else. All his affections-went to someone else. I no longer hold his heart, and I will travel to a new world tomorrow knowing that I will face another phase of depression and attempting self harm. And this time, I don't know if I was going to make it.

I walked along the dark hallway and in front of my room, there is no one here, and I pulled out my key to attempt to open the door. After dropping it, I bend down to pick it up-and almost as if someone hit me-I felt the desperation punching me in the gut, and I couldn't get up.

I couldn't get up.

So much pain is pressuring me, and forcing me down, I couldn't get up to open my door.

I collapsed in the hallway, sitting against the wall and facing the door knob. It seemed so far away. I breathed in, and out, in and out, and found myself on the edge of hyperventilating.

Something in choking me, something is choking me alive.

I grabbed the ring from my neck. I have been carrying this around for five years, and it was this that gave me hope. But it didn't work, now did it? In the end it's just a bit of trash-and something that I should loose-

I can't throw it away. My fingers wouldn't let me go, and I found myself crying silently, burying my face between my knee and gripped on the ring until it hurt.

In the darkness, I felt someone grabbing on my shoulders, pulling me up and pressed me against the wall. The next moment I felt lips crushing against mine, and instinctively I knew it was him.

His smell, his lips, his taste-they were all so familiar. They were mine, and they belonged to mine alone.

His tongue explored my mouth, and I sucked on it hungrily. I could feel him pausing a moment, then invaded with a fiercer force. He loved it when I touch him. He loved when I suck on his tongue, he loved it when I nibble down from his lips to his abdomen and below. He loved it when I grabbed onto him and bit him because he was giving me so much pleasure that i couldn't take it-

"Bitch." He said against my lips. "Tell me, why did you come back?"

I couldn't really think properly because his erection was pressing between my legs. I grinded myself on his thigh, and was about to open my mouth, but he filled it again with his tongue and lips. He didn't gave me enough air to breathe, and when he let go, I started gasping.

"Tell me!" He yelled in my ear while biting my earlobes.

I couldn't stop shivering, especially with his hand on me-and my hands quivered as they struggle to get a bit of distance between us. I reached in my blouse and pulled out our old engagement ring from my next. My whole body was shaking so violently while he froze in place, staring at that thing.

"Does... does your offer still stand?" My eyes watered.

This is how pathetic I am, Begging him to remember to love me.

And the next thing I remembered was me on the bed of that small inn, with him on top of me, consuming me whole.

IV.

If we have to place a blame on this whole thing as to who started it all, I suppose that I am partly responsible.

Ok I am somewhat responsible.

Ino and I were having fights again, therefore I am hunting for a female friend. Tenten was not in my faculty so it's hard to see her during the day, and sittig in the cafeteria, eating quietly by herself, was Chiro Arai.

I hardly know her because she was very quiet in class. But she's in the same program as me and I love that she doesn't gossip or gave particular too much care on fashion. She's a pure and simple girl that doesn't have many friends. So I sat at her table and started talking to her.

I think it was that momentary snap in decision determined my fate, but if I had the choice, I would sit at her table again, no matter how much suffering it bought on both of us later on in life.

We soon became fast friends, and I introduced him to my boyfriend... It seemed so sweet to call him my boyfriend, and it represented a simpler time. When the word boyfriend meant a strong commitment between the two.

Anyways, she said Sasuke is very handsome, which made me very happy. We spent more time together, it's just as well since Sasuke was busy with his courses. We hung out everywhere, and we both had similar interests. It was needless to say I was so very happy to have her in my life.

A couple month later, we were practically best friends. It was a cold winter night when we both decided to go and get some hotpot. So we sat at the restaurant across our campus and ordered a lot of meat. That was when Sasuke texted asking me where I was. He came a little later, exhausted from all the studying. We three talked about the holidays, plans, and future commitments. Sasuke's dream is to work somewhere in the government or something... I forgot, because he was in a phase that he spoilt me, and I didn't have to chase him around. Chiro's dream is to one day be a professional artist. Not a terrifically famous one, just one that that could make a living out of. Then she's going to lease a small coffee house or a flower shop and display her paintings while surrounded my smells of coffee or flowers.

See how simple we were?

Then Sasuke's phone rang. He walked away to talk, and I caught a glimpse of the caller ID, his brother.

I said in secret and in excitement, "Chiro, you have no idea. You think Sasuke is beautiful, but oh my god, his brother is like... a walking sculpture."

She laughed, "I want to see him! Do you have a photo?"

As a matter of fact I do. I was about to pull out my phone when Sasuke came back and asked, "My brother is going to join us, is that OK with you two?"

We exchanged looks and nodded fervently. But I don't want Chiro to get overly excited, so I quickly said, "Dear, he's married."

Chiro joked," All the good ones are either taken or gay."

We all laughed, ate, and talked about various life problems when Uchiha Itachi arrived in a woolen trench coat while holding a green tea cream cake from a nearby bakery. When he arrived at our table, Chiro stared at him with full hearts in her eyes, because the way he was, holding a cake, was the an ideal man for her. At the time Sasuke and I both noticed, it's normal for Chiro to stare at Itachi, because usually people do-but it's not normal, when he stared at her in the exact same way.

And for the rest of the dinner they couldn't take their eyes off of each other. They were acting more like a couple than we did. Itachi ordered everything-and I meant everything that she wanted-to the point that out table was stuffed with too much food. He then cooked them in the hotpot for her himself, while he hardly ate any. She was flustered, of course, but they did look like they were about to jump each other.

I may have exaggerated. But at the end of the dinner Chiro wanted to go out city tower to watch the snowfall. Both Sasuke and I were a bit tired so we declined, and Itachi volunteered to take her.

On the way back, Sasuke and I both confessed to each other that what just happened was weird.

"I didn't think your brother was the type to jump a living girl when he sees one." I said.

He glared at me, because he idolize his brother, "He's not." He replied.

"Then what just happened?" I asked, "He's married!"

"I don't know." Sasuke replied. "In all honesty, he is at most-polite to everyone around him, but this time he's more than that. He looked as if he's in love-which is ridiculous. My brother won't ever be in love."

How wrong he was.

And as it turned out, things got weirder.

Chiro didn't show up for classes for like... a week. And when she did get back, she was really... tanned. I stared at her in surprise and gasped out, "Did you go to the tropics or a tanning salon?"

She smiled, and giggled in a embarrassed fashion, "We-I-went to Um, Maldive."

I stared. "What?"

"Maldive." She said again, clearing her throat, "I just got back.

"You were gone ten days, Chiro. Ten days!" I yelled.

"I know-I know!" She flinched. "I'll catch up, I promise, I always do. I won't ever fall behind."

At that time class was starting, so I let it go. And the moment when our professor dismissed us, I was about to drag her back to a dorm room and ask her to come over so we could have a long heart to heart chat, when she suddenly bolted from her seat and put her coats on as fast as a rabbit running away from a coyote-and she apologized while backing out the door, "Sorry Sakura, maybe tomorrow? I'll call you!"

I continued to stare after her, and later I looked out the window and saw someone non-other than my boyfriend's dear brother-standing in the snow and in front of that ridiculously expensive car of his, waiting for her.

She jumped into his arms, and he patted the snow away from her head lovingly, while opening the door and putting the seatbelt on for her.

Even at that distance, I knew. I knew right then that despite how young she was, and how rich and married he was-they were in love.

They were so hopelessly in love with each other-and factoring the consequences-it was terrifying.

V.

It was today how I knew what the word "whore" felt like.

I do not think I gained any pleasure in this at all. The closest thing that could describe us would be, "animals". We fucked like animals with each other, and I was the weaker one. He was the dominant one, and he pushed me in however ways he wanted. He would shame me by ejaculating in my mouth, or on other parts of my body. He would tease me until I screamed and became hoarse for him.

I was sore all over, and even then I grabbed onto him, afraid that he would disappear if I close my eyes. He lay by me side, eyes closed and facing front. Our limbs tangled with each other while it's dead silent in this dark room of ours.

I held onto his arm and had his hands up to my lips while I sobbed without a sound. I felt sticky and disgusted all over. I opened my mouth, and was about to say something before Sasuke opened his mouth and asked, "what time is it?"

I got up to grab my phone, while covering myself with sheets and looking over the messages I missed. "It's four thirty."

In the morning.

Another minute of silence, then his voice came from the dark, "Is your passport, ID, all in here?"

I bit my lips and nodded. "Yes."

He didn't look at me as he lay a hand across his eyes, "Let's go then, Haruno. Let's go get married."

I stared at his silhouette in surprise because I did not expect this to happen. I was about to go into a full brawling mode after he leaves, and then clean myself up to prepare for Australia.

Shit. I thought. Australia.

"I have to go to Australia." I said dumbly.

He bolted up and looked more like an animal than anything. He sincerely looked furious, "What does it all mean then, you asked me if my offer still stands-do you think I'm a fool?"

I honestly did not know what got into me. But I said dumbly, "what about the ticket? I already purchased it."

He glared at me with this force that knocked me back a couple steps. He then stepped into the bathroom and said coldly, "think about it-make a choice."

Then he slammed the door.

I sat down on the bed and took a few seconds to process it. After a while I decided to at least put some clothes on and organize everything in this room. I was already very tired, but the mess of everything made my heart jumble up in a tangle. So I put on some sweat pants and a t-shirt and begin folding up my other clothes. At last I started packing up my carry-on bag when suddenly the bathroom door opened with Sasuke standing in the doorway with just a towel on his waist.

"What are you doing?" He asked harshly.

"Packing up." I said.

He looked desperate, then angry, then furious.

"You're leaving?" He asked, voice shaking.

I stared at him, "You don't want to get married?"

VI.

Four hours later-when the national registry opened-we got our marriage license.

Both of us didn't have a single smile on our faces. His was as cold as ice, and mine was timid, embarrassed, and also confused. I was in a trance when the girl who helped us nudged me, "ma'am?"

I snapped back to reality and asked, "Yes?"

"Sign here." She said.

My hands shook as I signed my signature. Which caused the girl to ask in suspicion, "Ma'am, are you sure you are not forced?"

Sasuke's eyes shot ice daggers.

We then paid the a hundred and twenty five dollars with two pieces of paper on our hands. He took my copy and handed them to his lawyer-which was among one of his group of staff standing by and waiting outside. The lawyer locked them in his brief case as if they were a lost treasure. I watched as he hurried off.

We got into a limo, and the moment he sat down, I begin, "Sasuke, I need to talk to you-"

He glared at me.

I bit my lips.

Then his voice came, "You think I don't know?"

My face went white.

"You could've come back three years ago, Haruno." He said cruelly, "you could've finish with all that and came back to be with me. He's my brother, my brother-you think he would keep this from me?"

I began to shiver.

"I forgave you for those two years, Haruno." He bit out, "but what is it about North America that attracted you so much that you had to stay there for another three years? Did you think I would wait here for you-wait for you to come back and laugh at the way I lived-without you?"

I opened my mouth to argue, "I did come back-I did-"

"You didn't have enough courage to find me and stare at me straight in the face to tell me why. Even though you knew I knew." He narrowed his eyes. "You are a coward, Haruno, and you ruined me. You are a coward and a liar-and because of that, you lost three years, and lost our chance at happiness."

I turned my face away to look through the tinted windows, and everything moved passed me so fast, and this city has changed into something I don't recognize-

I knew right then, I knew, that this limo is moving me towards a lifeless, sullen, and dead marriage.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

TBC

A/N: Possible final chapter and resolution next. I am contemplating if it's enough. Maybe a couple more chapters? We will see.


	16. Fracture-3

Chapter 3

I.

None of us-by us I meant Sasuke and I-thought that this thing... whatever it is, with Chiro and Itachi, would last. But then we were very surprised, because it lasted for a year and a half.

At the end of the semester on our fourth year, I was lying in Sasuke's arm one night, in his luxury apartment which his brother bought for him, and we were reading.

Well, I was reading some romantic novel that was very popular at the time, and he was reading an article by a noble prize peace winner. One could see the obvious difference when one read the cover of our books. Mine was "Fifty shades of grey", and his was "Criticism to Contemporary Japanese Nationalism".

I am sort of an intellectual, I think. At least I am smart. But I am not smart enough to study whatever he is interested in. I put my book down and stared up at his face. His chin is facing me, and I raised a hand up to caress his cheeks and down to his lips.

I am so happy right now I could scream.

He grabbed onto my hand and ran his lips through my fingers. I giggled and dropped my book, which he glanced with an obvious distaste. "Why do you claim that you hate that book in public while you read it over and over again at home?"

Hehe, he said home.

I quickly retorts, "Because I'm an undergrad at this university, Sasuke. I don't want to get laughed at. But I like it, because it reminds me of us."

"Us?" He snorts.

"You shouldn't reserve judgement before you read it." I yelled.

"Well." He put his book down. "You should be studying."

I gulped and stared at the piles and piles of material on my desk. They're screaming at me to do them, but I am so afraid to even touch them. I sighed, "Another year gone, Sasuke-kun. One more week and we'll be graduating."

"I'll be graduating." He eyed me.

I bolted up and threw a pillow at him, which he dodged with ease and smiled tenderly at me. "I'll help you. Come on, let's make a schedule and get this started."

I mumbled something unintelligent and sat down. Before I could fully get into a studious mode, my phone rang. I quickly stuck my tongue out at Sasuke and said, "It's Chiro, she never calls unless it's something important."

He rolled his eyes. "Like the last time when you guys argued over which store to buy the best cream cake?"

I glared at him. Little did he know that it was a very fierce and very long debate. It ended in getting two cakes.

"Hello?"

He voice came from the other side, "Sakura! Is Sasuke with you?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I really need to talk to you, it's urgent."

I got serious and begin to make a grab at my trench coat, "What is it? Where are you?"

She said, "Corner on 17th Ave, Lucky."

Lucky was a coffee shop which had an atmosphere far more sophisticated than it's name, and all of us cram ourselves in there to study sometimes because we believed it would make us pass. So far Lucky didn't disappoint me yet.

So I waved my hands at Sasuke and said, "Chiro needs me!"

"I know what you guys are going to say!" He yelled after me, "You guys are going to talk about my brother and I, and then I'd have to spend three days to follow you on your weird feminism demands!"

I yelled back, "Yes that's exactly what we are going to do!"

When I arrived at Lucky though, Chiro didn't look so good. She was wearing a overly puffy white sweater and her eyes and nose were red. I quickly sat down and ordered some of her favorite deserts and asked, "What happened?"

We were sitting at the corner of Lucky, and she looked up at me and swallowed, "Sakura, have you ever seen... his wife before?"

I assumed I know what she was talking about. Their relationship was so obvious. For the first three month they were always together and in love with each other, and the recent month reality hit and Chiro isn't stupid enough to acknowledge that indeed she is having an affair with a married man. I didn't say anything during these time because I thought they were none of my business, but the most important reason is that when they were together, they were so happy it's maddening. Their whole world consists of each other, and they did not care about anything or anyone else. Itachi had enough reason within him to keep her away from all his family and drama, but seriously, with his father and grandfather still alive, his family is going to come and find her.

I was right. Because she sniffed and leaned in, "I saw her today."

Her, meaning Taira-san, Itachi's beautiful and sharp wife.

"What did she say?" I whispered back, finding myself extremely nervous.

"She..." Chiro choked on her words, "She said that I need to leave him alone as soon as possible. I need to get out of the city, and I need to... Or else..."

"Or else?" I was horrified.

"Or else she would kill me." She whispered.

My heart sunk. "Wh...what?"

Her face was as white as a sheet when she said, "She said her family... is... well, they would have no problem eliminating me."

"Does he know about this?" I quickly asked.

"No." She suddenly raised her voice, "He can't know!"

I was furious, "Chiro, what the fuck? Why didn't you tell him? He loves you so much, you know he would help you-"

Her once round face is now more oval as she raised her head and stared at me in this hopeless look, "Sakura, Sakura, Sakura. Really? Do you really think we are perfect for each other? Do you really think he places me above all else? He doesn't love me, Sakura. Look at me, look at me. I am a one time thing, a infatuation, a fling and something he would amuse himself with. I know he is never going to marry me, and I know I am just someone who passes by and he won't remember me ten years later...I please him when I don't cause any trouble in his life-and look at the place I am in, do you think that he would risk going against his family-for me? Me?"

I was stunned when she broke down crying, and the only thought that repeated in my head was -it turned out that she isn't a fool in love. She was just weaving a dream for herself.

But now that I know the aftermath of their relationship, I could honestly say that Itachi was stronger than any of us, and he prevailed.

She stopped crying after none of us said anything for the next little while. After she wiped her tears she said in a very calming and determined breath. "Sakura, I'm not going to classes anymore."

I stared at her, "Chiro, our exams are next week."

She smiled weakly and placed a hand on her stomach, "Sakura, I'm pregnant."

We were silent because we were staring at each other in complete silence. Then her eyes softened as her hands involuntarily rubbed her tummy. My eyes went down to her stomach and I imagined a small little Uchiha running around in a green grass field with sunshine and bright flowers everywhere-

"It's been four weeks." She whispered, "but I could tell-I could feel it in my guts, it's going to be a baby boy."

My eyes watered as I saw her as a glowing entity of a maternal figure. She is delirious right now, and I'm so happy for her-

"I'm going to try my best to write my exams." She finished, "You should too, but I need your help. Sakura. I can't-I don't want to see him anymore."

In my head, a plan was already in motion. But it requires so much effort, and I have to bend down my head and dignity and beg for help from my father-

"I will help you." I said, "No matter what it takes, I will help you."

And I didn't know at the time, what it would take.

II.

Sakura woke up, and the first thing she hears is the sound of the waters streaming off from the bathroom. She sat up, and found herself in the same posh and cold bedroom she slept in few years ago. But back then she had sweet memories of whispering to each other on the bed, having meals at the futon in the corner, and curling up in his arms and watching TV...

Now Sakura woke up feeling extremely sluggish. She looked around the room and found her luggage lying on the side wall, and slowly the memory coming back to her-she was at city hall, the marriage registry, and then...

She's married.

To Uchiha Sasuke.

She wants to tell the 20 year old version of herself that one day, it did came true. The names she wrote on her notebook in class "Uchiha Sakura" did became her real name. She just got married to the boy of her dreams, and she couldn't be happier-

Except he doesn't love her.

Does he?

She buried her head within the sheets and recalled after they got their marriage license, Sasuke took her to Tiffany's, where they picked their ring-and it really isn't so much as picking, because Sasuke asked, "bring me your best collection" and he pointed at the first one he saw. They wrapped it up and rang it through for them, and now Sakura has a huge rock on her hand.

She mildly amused herself with the idea of punching someone with this ring on her hand. It could cause some serious damage.

Her phone rang, and she desperately scavenged for it in her luggage. It was a ring tone she was so familiar with, and she threw her cloth out onto the bed before she found it on the bottom of her luggage.

"Hello?!" She quickly yelled into the phone.

"Sakura!" It's Tenten.

Sakura listened to her voice and she could feel her tears circling in her eye sockets.

"Sakura! Erika spoke! She said 'eyaka'! We all thought it's your name!"

Sakura's tears finally fell. "She did? Oh she did!?"

"Yeah!" Tenten yelled, "Listen,"

And she put the phone close to the tiny toddler's mouth, and the beautiful baby mumbled baby words "ayalaayala" into the phone.

"See?" Tenten said proudly, "Did you hear that?"

Sakura cried, "I did, I did. Oh Tenten, I..."

Tenten rolled her eyes on the other line, "Ok I'm not good with tears. Here comes the water work, Chiro?"

Chiro's soft voice came into Sakura's ears. "Sakura?"

She cried harder. "Chiro..."

"We wait for your call, you said you'd be here by now." She said, "But you stayed, right? You didn't come."

"I... I got married." She sobbed.

Chiro gasped. "Oh my god! congratulations."

Sakura cried harder.

"What happened? Did he bully you? Sakura, do you need me to talk to Itachi? Sakura?"

"I miss you guys so much." Sakura whispered. "No...nobody loves me here. I tried, honest to God, I tried very hard to make this right-and I am a coward-but he wouldn't listen. He wouldn't ... Oh, I feel horrible..."

Chiro paused for a while before sighing, "Sakura, he probably loves you more than anything you have ever known-he probably will never stop loving you, whether you become a coward, or a withered old maid, Sakura, he loves you more than you dared to believe."

Sakura questioned, "Really?"

"Yes." Her voice sounded certain. "Sakura, dear, be strong."

After saying goodbye, she turned to see a very emotionless Sasuke standing behind her.

She was so startled she almost dropped her phone.

"Get to the shower." He ordered. "You're coming with me to the office today."

She stared at him. "What?"

He glared, "don't make me repeat myself."

III.

"I don't know how to translate this." Sakura stared down at a word.

Sasuke sneers, "Five years in the states?"

She pouted and refused to translate anymore. He looked over and saw the words.

Caveat emptor

Let the buyer beware.

It's Latin. No wonder she couldn't translate.

He ignored her pleading eyes and went back to work.

When they were still enrolled in courses, he would study and read various articles all day. Sakura didn't have to study that much at all because her major has no practicals use. And Itachi spoilt his brother by buying him a large penthouse suite near the university. Sakura often spent her time there while Sasuke had countless studying to do. She would get bored very easily, and therefore she amuse herself by leaning on a pillow or a stuffed animal while looking at him studying.

Which is very weird, because when she was watching TV or playing games, he has no objection towards her. When she stares at him, however, he couldn't concentrate anymore.

Often he would raise his head and ask, "Do you want to do something else? How about watch a movie? Order takeout?"

"You don't want my company?" Sakura pouts.

His heart melts, "Of course not."

And the rest of the evening continues, with him pretending to concentrate while she looked at him with hearts in her eyes.

Now, years later, he still couldn't concentrate when her eyes are on him.

"Do something else." He raised his head and snapped at her.

Sakura was startled by it, therefore she quickly grabbed her phone and played with it.

Two minutes later.

"Sasuke-kun, do you want to see pictures of your niece? She's so adorable, and look at this one, she drooled on her father, look-"

He glared, and she shuts up. "Sorry."

Then she played with her phone and giggled with herself once in a while. And every time she makes a sudden movement, Sasuke can't help but look up at her. He has this urge to nip her mood in the bud, so he said, "Tell me. During these five years, when did you come back?"

Sakura immediately stopped smiling.

He felt a sick satisfaction rising up to his chest. "Well?"

"Three years ago." She mumbled, clearly want to drop the topic. But Sasuke pursued.

"And?" He chased on. "What happened?"

Sakura replied, "Ino. Ino happened."

He stared at her with disbelief in his eyes."What?"

She now felt the power over him, and it feels wonderful. To be able to shock him like that is a chance she won't ever have again. Her eyes blinked once or twice before repeated. "Ino declared her claim over you, and that I had no right to come back after two years."

He shifted his eyes from her and onto the documents in front of him. But he couldn't concentrate at all as he fell into deep thought. Putting the pieces together, he finally allowed himself to forcefully place all the puzzles in place for the first time. Usually he ignores anything related to her, and it suddenly became clear why she avoided him longer than necessary. And the reason was so ridiculous and pathetic he felt the need to slam it on to her head.

"So you're saying it was because of your cowardice." He sneered at her, "Then one would come to assume if you had any guts within you to fight for what you love-or even if you loved at all."

Sakura's face went pale. His statement reflected everything she hated about herself. She could stand up against obstacles in front of her friends and become a shield, but when a force of nature, like Ino, appeared in front of her, she could do nothing else but hide. She knows it too, and she hates that about herself, but everything that has happened proved the severity of the situation. She should've stayed and explained to him. Two years ago she might still have a chance. Now she doesn't-none at all.

"How long?" Tear swelled up in her eyes. "How long until this sentence you gave me-ends? When can I be released?"

Sasuke cruelly turned away, "The shackles and the keys-they're both in your hands."

And after two minutes, she lowered her head and buried herself between her knee and whimpered, "I shouldn't have came back at all."

This made his furious. How long did she want to drag this on? Or even worse-she has the audacity to even suggest of letting go. Then again, if she had the courage to forget about him, then she should have had the courage to stand up to Ino.

Sasuke was in deep thought the next time she interrupted him. "I'm leaving for York in a couple of days."

He glared at her and tried to contain his fury. "Pardon me?"

"I need to visit my family. My father requested it." She said as if it's a matter of fact. By now her expression was calm and collected, and with a phone in her hand, she felt the need to shake it at him to prove it. "See? He asked for me."

He wanted to scream at her and tell her that in her father's eyes, she's nothing but a tool for commercial uses. However he leaned back and replied to her, "I'm going to. I'll have Juugo book the tickets."

She didn't object, instead she curled on that couch and played with her phone again. "Erika is so cute, I wonder if she takes after her mother more or her father more..."

Sasuke's thought was less forgiving. In his eyes, she has a character that's weak to the point of pitiful.

IV.

"Brother."

A cold and smooth voice snapped Sasuke back from reality as he focused his eyes onto the screen again in front of him. He is now in his study back in his apartment, and Sakura is in the living room reading a book. He was working when Itachi disturbed with a video call. And after roughly calculating that it was about a month since he talked to him, Sasuke reluctantly accepted the call with a poker face. They have been exchanging greetings for two minutes Sakura barged in with questions of what he wanted on his pizza. Sasuke once again attacked her with a cold and sarcastic attitude, which probably results in her tearing up again.

"Yes?" Sasuke turned back to his brother-whose face is too beautiful to actually exist in life. "What is it?"

Uchiha Itachi's incredible face appeared on Sasuke's monitor, and that was not the only thing on it. His brother is actually holding up a baby girl with brightest eyes he had ever seen and holding the biggest lollipop he has ever seen.

"We went to the amusement park today." Itachi announced, his voice blank and flat, but Sasuke knew him better-he is showing off. It's almost as if he's proud of the fact that he reproduced a baby as bright and pretty as Erika. But anyone with one look could tell-this child is going to grow up to be a very pretty young lady. Erika is only a toddler, but she can produce sounds resembling its original pronunciation. She is very clever-to the point of being a nuance to her family and caretakers. Of course Sasuke has seen her once or twice, but they mostly communicate through technology, and Erika could recognize him even with the few moments they spent together. Sasuke is not particular good with babies, but it's a different case with Erika. She knew how to behave in front of different people, and with her uncle she sits beside him and read her picture books with minimum sounds. Sasuke thought she rather enjoy the company of the kid. Apparently her family has different opinions about her.

"Guess what happened." Itachi almost sounds proud, "Last week we sent her to pre-school, and she ran out."

"What?" Sasuke stared at the small girl licking her lollipop which was bigger than her head.

"Yes. We dropped her off, and Chiro almost cried the whole way home. So I took her shopping. And when we got back, we saw her sitting on the couch watching cartoons."

"How did she..."Sasuke was astonished.

"She apparently snuck out and ran like the wind when her teacher wasn't watching, and as she was running down park avenue, a good Samaritan gave her a lift home. She has her address sewed on every one of her jackets." Itachi replied while ticking his daughter's sides. She giggled nonstop and tried to smack her father with her lollipop.

Sasuke watched the scene with pure envy and frustration. The first would be that if things went as planned. He could have a child like Erika-and the latter being at this point the chances of that is very slim.

"I heard you're getting married." Itachi ducked his head while tucking Erika in a blanket and sat her on his lap while giving her a book to read. She starts reading quietly.

"I already am." Sasuke tossed away the files in front of him and sighed. He ran his fingers through his hair and leaned back, "What is it?"

Itachi smiled but didn't say anything. He tapped his fingers while flipped a page for Erika.

Sasuke got annoyed and embarrassed at the same time, "I don't think you are in any position to gave me lessons on relationships."

"Well look at me now."

Sasuke glared at him so hard that Erika got scared and buried her head on her father's shoulders while whimpering.

"Sasuke." Itachi scolded in a gentle tone.

Sasuke had a flashback, which was when they were young, Itachi discovered Sasuke snuck a toy upstairs while he was supposed to do homework. He didn't take the toy away. Instead he scolded him in the calmest and gentlest tone, which made him felt shame more than anything that he automatically threw the toy away and sat down to do his homework.

"Brother." He leaned in with hands in his dark hair. "Did I do this right?"

"I can't judge." Itachi replied, and he twirled a finger within his daughter's dark and smooth hair. "There's something you need to know, Sasuke."

Sasuke listened intently.

"When someone appeared in your life that you would rather trade your life for their happiness-" He paused and bend down to lean his cheeks on top of his daughter's hair, "Everyone else who came before or after her becomes a form of settling. And we are the same, brother. We both won't ever settle."

Sasuke stared at his brother, whose fingers combed through Erika's hair with adoration. Itachi's face is a never before seen serene that only appeared after he reunited with his wife, and for the first time in Sasuke's life, he realized his brother indeed has emotions. Emotions so strong and incredible that it's impossible to be apart from. A man once so sophisticated and unemotional Sasuke suspected that he was made from a robot. But his perfection broke down the moment he met her-and Sasuke knew because Itachi once confessed to him. He said once he has found her, everything else became black and white, and she is the only one who has color within her-a iridescent color that lit him up and his entire being.

Sasuke sneered at that. Which caused Itachi to ask, "You don't feel the same way about Sakura-san?"

Sasuke didn't reply, because he doesn't know how to answer to that.

It's until now that he realized his feelings of Sakura has converted itself to hatred.

How much he loved her equaled how much he hates her now, and during these nights he lay awake at nights thinking about her. His heart aches with longing and he suffered over and over-until he couldn't take it anymore-he bought a ticket to York.

And he knew then-right then-the moment he saw he sitting on a park bench in a foreign country with a small carriage rocking gently beside her, he knew that this was going to be one of many, many times that he is going to visit her.

He was right, of course. And over the course of five years, there are countless ticket stubs that he shoved in his office drawer. But he has never made his appearance known-except for his own brother. Because it was unnatural for anything to happen under Itachi's nose and he has no clue of it.

Sasuke watched from afar, and waited. He waited from the beginning of dawn to the pit of twilight. He watched her window, her silhouettes and her shadows, and watched her happy times, her sorrows, her problems and her difficulties. He watched until she went to sleep, and only then the driver dared to ask what Sasuke's wishes were. He would raise a hand and sigh in extreme weariness. "Let's go back."

And this happened more times than he could count.

So he waited. He found that waiting isn't the torture, but knowing there would be no end. With no limit and no boundaries, he could feel his wound peeling off layer by layer, each time he lays his eyes on her. And after every single time when he board the thirteen hour plane flight back to Leon, he felt that each time he flies thousands of miles just to catch a glimpse of her-is his way of say goodbye. His way of finding closure. Even when there was no chance that he could ever see her, even when he hid himself so well that no one would ever know, flying back and forth these thousands of miles became a torture in itself. He wanted to touch her, to see her, to talk to her-but he can't. Because the moment he does, it's a desperation screaming in the deepest pit of his soul.

And the fact that he kept coming back and repeat the process over and over again...

Itachi once asked him how long would this continue. Sasuke replied that he doesn't know.

Because he would continue on doing this even after she gets into another relationship, even after she gets married, and perhaps until she is old and gray and withers away.

Because anyone that comes after her, is a form of settlement.

V.

Sakura sat in the lobby of her apartment building waiting for pizza. It was so suffocating up there that she wanted to come down and take a breather. She wanted to hit herself over the head repeatedly for everything that has happened. She realized she should not acted so foolishly and mildly wondered what is the maximum deadline for an annulment.

But she wanted to marry him-for so long.

They have known each other for almost ten years now. How many ten years she could go on and waste away? She has given the best of her life to Uchiha Sasuke, and it seemed that he doesn't want to take responsibility of all.

How could this go on? This is going to be a marriage of hate, of revenge, of torture. She doesn't want to go through with it, she wants to get out. If this is what's going to happy, her heart-which was already stabbed into a beehive-will collapse.

She stood up suddenly, feeling a little faint. And because of the headrush, a flash of blond came into her eye. She blinked for a few times and thought it was an illusion, but then Ino's voice came, "Haruno."

Sakura steadied herself against the wall and stared right at the blond girl. She still looked very Ino-esque. Full makeup and leather, with her hair pulled back sleek and glossy and a scarf with fur and a pair of boots probably at the cost the death of two fawns.

"It's Uchiha now." Sakura said, narrowing her eyes at Ino.

Ino clearly already heard the news. However she was unfazed and said, "Sakura, I think I owe you an explanation."

Sakura shook her head. "You don't owe me anything."

"Three years ago." Ino ignored her and replied. "Three years ago I showed the ugliest side of myself to you, hoping it would intimidate you into leaving again, and to my surprise, it worked."

Sakura tried to sit down, for she knew this conversation is going to drain a lot from her.

"I did not know how insecure you were about Sasuke, and now that I know, I want you to realize I love him-perhaps more than you do."

Perhaps. Sakura thought with bitterness in her stomach.

"You don't deserve him." Ino replied, "I didn't loose to you, Sakura. I lost to him."

She raised her head to try to focus Ino's face into her perspective.

"For the first two years after you left, I thought I had a chance. And I was very close-to the point that he admitted me into his life." Ino recalled, brushing a stand of her bangs back behind her ear. After these years, these words still hurt her. "But I was wrong. I wasted five years of my life on him-five years I could never get back, and I realized one thing-he was also waiting. We were all waiting, waiting, waiting..."

Sakura buried her head on her knee, because Ino looked away and choked a little.

"I tried everything I could, and it a year ago when I understood, he has way more patience than I do, and he was never going to turn around to look at me. Because he was waiting for you, and he would rather wait for you-until he dies-than marry someone else."

Sakura burst out crying, and Ino stomped on her boots. "That's it. I'm going. I wish you all the luck in the world."

Sakura stared after her in blurred eyes and tried to control her quiet sobbing.

She ran to the elevators and covered her nose and mouth with her hands while watching the number slowly reaching up to the penthouse. She then ran into her apartment with sounds of crying-which Sasuke heard and his heart fluttered and quickly dropped everything while running out from his study-only to be attacked by a ball of pink jumping into his arms.

She wouldn't let go, and tears fell onto his shirt seeping into his chest while she is smiling and laughing at the same time.

"You love me, you love me, you love me!" She repeated, leaning her hair against his shoulders. "You love me, and I was so afraid, I was so scared to come back to face a Sasuke that treated me the same way he treated me when I was seventeen..."

He has no reply to that, and he could only hold her tight within his arms.

"Tell me you love me, tell me..." She whimpered against his neck.

"You want me to tell you I love you..."Sasuke spoke with difficulty while wiping her tears and hair away from her face, "but Sakura, Sakura, Sakura... How? Tell me how would you prepare me...to love you more than I do now?"

Both of them sat on the ground, Sasuke hugged her from behind, and Sakura leaned her back against her chest. At that point she was sure-as sure as she knows that one day she would die-that he is madly, and unconditionally in love with her.

VI.

When Haruno Sakura was seventeen, she played a rebellious teenager and left home to run away to a strange city and continued her education somewhere of no benefits to her. Everybody had no idea how that came to be, and why did Sakura chose this city in particular, everybody except herself.

She could never tell anyone, because it would be embarrassing.

She saw his photo on her father's laptop. At the background, actually. He was not looking into the camera, rather she was looking at the sky, and with his back leaning against the camera. But one could still see side of his face.

She felt her heart pounded by something when she saw him, the pure boredom in his face, the cleanest form of desperation on life-and she knows it because she felt the same, the exact same.

Her life had been smooth sailing, and she wanted to escape-to run away from all this to search for what she wanted.

She did not begin to like him at that point yet. She simply wanted a change of scenarios. And after asking her father which would be the best school for her program-she came here.

Sakura did not attend her university based on her grades. She attended because her father donated a wing to the university.

She is a naturally artsy person, with natural dreams and aspiration for a little girl. However, she did not expect Uchiha Sasuke to appear in her life.

The first time she saw him, was under a large willow tree on campus, when the sun was setting down and the yellow light hits the leaves and structures just in the right places that made her heart go soft. She turned and saw a black haired boy leaning against the tree, staring intently at the setting sun.

He was so amazing and perfect, that Sakura almost stumbled forward at the sight of him. Her eyes couldn't turn themselves away, and as she tried to approach him, something stabbed into her heart like an invisible sword.

A long time after, she could tell it was the same thing already inside her. It was loneliness. This boy standing here, as perfect as he is, lived in a world where he won't have anyone approach without getting hurt. And it has been a long time since he lived there, and he wanted someone to reach in and someone to fill his heart up.

She walked in front of him, and reached up to kiss him-

And he dodged, of course. What kind of psycho would let a strange pink haired girl kiss him-whom he has never met?

And ever since then, during the four years of her university life, she followed him everywhere and stayed with him-

She filled his life with colors.

She was sure then, the moment she laid eyes on her, as sure as she knew she was going to die-that she is going to marry him one day, and they are going to very, very, very happy.

And they are.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

END

A/N: It's the first time I typed those three letters after a story in two years. I really gotta finish my stories. I know. Please review and let me know if I should put a side story. There are details I want to comb through, but won't if no one reads or cares...

Thank you.


	17. Payment-1

Chapter 1

I.

I have a boyfriend, who spoils me and showers me with everything I wanted.

But he is in love with my best friend.

II.

I met Ino in my flower arranging class. She was already a senior student.

It was an old establishment, with bamboo settings and pretty striped wood for the flooring. I took my shoes off and walked upon the waxed floors, and felt that even with fresh white socks I am defiling this place.

She was wearing a traditional outfit with silk strings wrapped around her waist. Her eyes are gentle as she took up each flower and carefully straightened them in a large jade vase. Every movement, every gesture she made are graceful without effort, as if she was born for this-to be among flowers.

I tried to look for that peace of mind, a similar function, as if a button inside me have clicked and make me a whole new person who understood all history and future insights. But however I tried, I cannot imitate that peace and grace. I was attracted, heavily, by the outside popular world that flourished around me, the lime lights, different taste of liquor, loud music, shallow brand names, and layers of make up.

I quite flower arranging class very soon, around a couple month after I joined. I was twelve, and already then I gave up in belong in that white world-

It wasn't meant to be for me.

III.

Ino and I went to the same college. It was a school for girls, mostly, girls from rich families.

I didn't get in by scholarship. I was not that studious, nor was I interested in my studies. My family was not rich, but they could afford my tuition, and they wanted to spend at least some money on me, so in the future I don't have to marry a man who couldn't provide a life style they wanted.

Either ways, I was sent to all sorts of classes when I was young. Piano, sewing, knitting, cooking, art... Basically I am not skilled in any, but I know a few tricks to each. I know how to basic sketch, some light cooking and baking. I know how to knit a scarf or sew a ripped seam back together, and play a few tunes on the piano to awe the people who do not have musical talent, but that was the extent of my training as a girl who should belong to a family with gate carved out of ivory.

Like Ino, she is skilled in everything she does. However she has no interest in cooking, but it does make sense. Whoever marries her will at least be wealthy enough to provide for a few help.

What makes her special, is her innate attractiveness. She is able to cite poetry on the top of her mind. Her word choices are eloquent and her voice articulate, and she loves antiques and art, therefore is able to identify different antiques and paintings.

I on the other hand, was more interested in things like partying, different shots, the latest fashion, or popular music. I was loud, energetic, charismatic with my peers, and everybody liked me because of my attractive personality.

We both met him, at the same time.

It was during a party at a club on New Years Eve. I dragged Ino out to the most popular club in town, hoping for her to expand her circles and make new friends. I got in on a favor from another friend. We went in, Ino acted secluded as usual.

When he entered, he was like a sun that shone brightly in the sky, and none of us are able to take our eyes off of him. He smiled with the most charming confidence, and sat at the corner, but everybody seemed to be evolving around him as we shifted the attention nucleus to him. He let us chat, talk, answering our questions once in a while, and at first I was shy because of his presence, but then I started talking and drinking, the shyness wore off and I became the usual happy self.

His name is Uchiha, the noble family who dominated this city. I never thought I would met a family member in person, and this came as such a surprise.

He shifted his focus onto the decoration within the room, while pointing to a vase beside Ino, "That's from the meji period, I presume?"

We all praised him for his knowledge, but Ino said, "No, it's from the Edo period. Oil tinted jade flourished in the Meji period. It's the light within this room gave this vase a false shine. It's actually water tinted jadette."

He was impressed by her knowledge, furthermore impressed by her quietness and royal-like aura that she emits. She sipped her wine instead of drinking it. Her eyes clear while mine tainted by sleepiness and fatigue. She was like snow, and I'm the mud beneath.

It was that moment, the way he looked at her, I knew. I suddenly knew at my deep unconscious, of his amazement of her. He likes her, and perhaps will fall in love with her. It was so obvious, but nobody in the room knew of it except for me.

I was too drunk to remember, but I woke up in the Uchiha manor.

It was a Sunday, and a maid laid fresh cloth out for me. I change into my shiny sequined ones from the night before and into a simple blouse and jeans.

I walked downstairs while amazed by the decor and elaborate furniture, I saw Sasuke standing by the window, holding a cup of coffee, looking down.

He saw me, and smiled lightly while putting the cup down, "your friend is downstairs, she came early in the morning to pick you up."

I was desperate in making a good impression on him, so I smiled brightly back, "Thank you, I'm sorry for my behaviour last night."

"It was no problem." He replied, "We had a great chat."

He removed my coat from the closet, walked over and placed it on my shoulders. "We should have dinner..."

I was too deliriously happy to think about why he wanted dinner with me.

IV.

It was perhaps a very vain thing to do, to show off the man you're dating to everyone else. But I couldn't help it. Even though I was too much in love to notice little signs. Like we hardly ever see each other. Whenever I call him he hardly picks up, and when I text him he hardy replies. It was understandable because of how busy he is, but when he calls I was always there. The relationship between us was not natural, or balanced. I didn't mind, because I wanted him to notice me so desperately I'd do anything to hang onto him.

When we went out for three month, only saw each other a handful of times, I suggested for him to come and have dinner with my close friends. He agreed, and we all met in a sushi place.

It was a quaint and cute little place with bamboo and silk curtains. Ino arrived right on time. She sat perfectly and used all utensils with expertise. I, on the other hand, had trouble with picking up the tiny pieces of food, and had to resort to using a fork instead.

Sasuke conversed with her in a low and monotone voice. They discussed history and artifacts while I peeled shrimp for him, and I clearly remembered that I laid a plateful of freshly peeled shirmp beside him, and he didn't touch them at all.

Dinner ended, and Sasuke drove us back to our dorm. In his car, we talked about graduating. Both Ino and I are graduating in a month, and Sasuke mentioned lightly, "Ino-san, why don't you come and work for Uchiha corp? We can put you in the museum and charity division. You can manage various events in antiquities..."

"What about me?" I asked, a little whiny.

He glanced at me and smiled, "You don't need to work. I'll feed you."

It's a doting sentence. I was satisfied. Only because I was shallow, dependent and lacking agency. There was something at the back of my mind which was screaming at me that even though I was at the front seat, it felt like Ino was belonged here, and I should be out of the car entirely.

V.

Upon graduation, I received a beautiful apartment, a luxury car, and a black credit card from Sasuke.

Ino got a job, and she started her nine to five routine.

VI.

Two years later, even if I was an absolute idiot before, it's impossible not to tell now, that Sasuke really doesn't love me.

I lived in the penthouse for two years, had a maid that took care of everything I needed. He comes over once every one or two month, but visit his gallary almost every week. I realized the first few month I graduated, but I was too dependent on his material comfort. I don't have to work, I have countless amount of money to spend, and I don't even have to wait on Sasuke at all. He doesn't take me to family functions, I am allowed to go where ever during holidays, and I have no restraint.

I would visit my family and tell them I have a job, and they see my clothing and accessories and they'd be satisfied.

Only I knew that this relationship was going no where. And from being so passionately in love with him, I turned into a numbing and worthless individual. Parties and social events begin to bore me. But I didn't get hit, perhaps, not until when I was dressed all glamorous to a nearby club, and passing through Ino's work place, I entered the gallery to find my supposed boyfriend, standing together with Ino, looking at a painting on the wall.

The scene was so beautiful I was afraid to look. Both of them tall, pretty, and extremely compatible. They have the same taste, same hobbies, and even the same affection for each other. Whereas me, I couldn't share half a word with Sasuke, and usually I would talk, he listens with a bored and emotionless expression on his face.

Bored and expressionless.

I turned around, went to the club I intended, and got drunk.

The next morning I called up connections to a friend of mine and asked if I could have a job in one of his bakeries. He said he'd gladly set it up for me so I can study and learn there. Then I searched for a room to rent near the bakery, and paid for U-haul to come and pick up my belongings, moving there. Leaving nothing inside this apartment except for the lease, keys, his credit card, and a note informing Sasuke that I'm breaking up with him.

I pulled his name to the list of blocked callers, along with Ino.

In just a few days, I ended the relationship of two of the most important people in my life. I never felt happier or sadder my entire life.

VII.

Working for the first time almost killed me. I have never worked full time before, or any for that fact. I never had to ponder on what to buy, and calculate the groceries costs and utilities. That card he gave me seemed magical, and I swiped it, anything would come to me. I used to despise girls who sell themselves for money, but now I completely understood.

The bakery training was difficult but I barely made it though. My hands must pound and kneel dough all the time, and I must take off my manicures and makeup while in the bakery. I turned to a fashionable, modern girl to a cook in apron in just a few weeks, and after a month, I begin to turn slightly darker than I used to be.

But I gained weight and muscle strength. I could carry a whole bag of flour from one side of the room to another. I could make wonderful eclairs and tasty croissants, and manipulate cream and create my own art. I begin to work in the bakery as part of a baker, and I begin to make customized cakes.

Around six months after I left Sasuke, when I almost forgot that I had someone like that in my life, he walked in. In his trench coat and tux, into this small bakery and asked for me personally to customize a cake.

I walked out from the back, and when I look up at him, I almost froze from the shock.

"Are you the pastry chef?" He smiled at me as if being introduced to me for the first time.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then put on a professional smile and shook his hand, "yes, Haruno Sakura. What kind of cake could you like?"

"A birthday cake." He said, "For a dear friend of mine, Ino Yamanaka."

It felt, literally, like a huge bolt to my head. I was stunned for a couple of seconds, but managed to blurt out, "please write down the preferred message onto this sheet of paper. When would you like this to be picked up?"

"June third." He said with another smile, handing me the message paper.

"Any other requirements?" I asked him

He shook his head, "none."

"Lovely." I said, retreating to the back room, while tossing the note on the counter, I curled up on a couch around the corner. I begin to reflect back to the memory that happened a few minutes ago. An encounter that small, that irrelevant could possibly hurt me in such way, it was terrifying. This man is terrifying. I should be as far away from him as possible-

Thinking of this, I left the cake assignment to a colleague of mine; went home and poured myself a glass of wine and stayed up until five in the morning before falling asleep.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

A/N: This story will be short, maybe a few more chapters more or so. This chapter is largely summary, in the future it will dwell more on details and such. I feel like my writing skills declined after not practicing my crafts more, but lately I have been focusing on the artistic aspect of my hobbies such as painting and sketching. I'm taking sketching courses to finish my degree in university.

I know I should update "Apathy", but this is a break from that story. I'm having trouble finishing that one. Sigh. Any suggestions and comments please don't be afraid to leave review or pm. I feel like I have matured enough to accept all of them.

I love you all, V


	18. Payment-2

Chapter 2

I.

I have a sick fascination with things that are superficial, as previously stated. But that just proves that I'm a girl. I see a Balenciaga city bag and my heart starts pounding really fast. I see silky scarves and I have this urge to ran my hand through them, to feel the watery touch over and over again. I go to specific galleries, usually pink and girlish paintings about castles and knights, and appreciate the mixture of colors. I watch some reality TV, or shows that feature great fashion appeals, and think to myself 'if I am one of those girls on TV I would have a happier life than I am living now'.

Why is that not the case, when I sat in Starbucks alone with a silk scarf, a Burberry trench coat, Versace sunglasses and an outfit by Mexx? I don't understand why I am so depressed. As I look closer at my phone my depression spirals deeper. I have light makeup on (I don't have much nice makeup left, especially when I left Uchiha I didn't stock up on cosmetics), and in front of me lies a copy or War and Peace. A book which I purchased on a whim because I could not take the judgmental look from the sales girl when I picked up a copy of Confession of a Shopaholic. I really regret my purchase, the book is boring as hell and I had been flipping through the first ten pages for an hour. I then logged onto Facebook, which was a huge mistake. Everyone of my friends whom I used to hang out with when I was still in school all had wonderful lives. Some of them married, some of them traveled around the world, some of them had fabulous jobs, and some of them are living happily pursuing their hobbies.

I suddenly reflected back on the time I had with myself for the past six month, soon I found myself crying.

My life was beyond boring. It was downright depressing. I have a lot of purses, clothes, and shoes, all crammed up in a small apartment that has less square footage than my previous bathroom. It has a very small window and a pathetic kitchen with no oven. I think will go crazy if I keep holing myself in that small apartment. I think my life is dismal without money; each and every day I'm reminded that this is how my life is going to be. I am never going to amount to something, never be rich. Because I've hardly paid attention to class or had to work for anything before, I am going to die after spending my life as a patissier or working in blue collar industry.

Then I would begin to think about how I should go drinking tonight. Find some friends to hang out and get drunk, that would be a great time! Only realizing that I don't have friends anymore. Ino was my best friend, always there when I needed her. When I spent Uchiha Sasuke's money, I never thought twice before calling her up and take her out to lunch. Whether it was going to an amusement park opening together, or a garden that I never went too. Most of them were shopping trips, consisting of her watching me while I spent my time trying out clothing. She would say how pretty I look no matter what I wore. Now thinking about how this all ended, it seemed ridiculous. When Uchiha Sasuke, Ino, and I were eating out together, it seems that I was the only one fooled thinking I was with the two people who loved me the most in this world. It amounted to nothing but a cruel betrayal that had been forced upon me.

Iam not going to kid myself and reason that perhaps it was all one sided. Uchiha Sasuke is not the type of man who would act passively towards the person he cared about. Show by how protective he is of his own family. Then there was the question I couldn't bare ask myself. All those time,why? Why did he keep me around? I'm useless to him. My family is middle class, full of nothing but ordinary people. I personally have nothing to show for other than an average face which becomes prettier with heavy makeup and a good sense of fashion. I never finish whatever I started, despite my efforts to go through with them, which may or may have not caused trouble for Uchiha Sasuke - yet he put up with me all this time. Excuse me for being narcissistic here, but does this mean that he actually loved.. me?

Deep shame washed over me in an instant, why it was there was anyones guess. Perhaps it's because my memory was flooded of images of him and Ino together. I wish I could say I imagined them, but I would be lying. I saw them together more than once, never doing anything explicit, but simply standing together like the two of them are two halves of a charm meant to be whole. She is so pretty, with blond hair that has never been subjugated to any hair dye, long and straight down her back-hair which fairy tale princesses could only dream of. She only wear traditional robes and clothing that were reserved and conservative, but all the same elaborate and embroidered with silk threads. When she opens her mouth to speak it was not words that flowed out, it was knowledge and experience that amazes both scholars and ordinary folks alike. She does not seem like a person who was born within the dust and ashes of this world. No, rather a girl who was born to be the secret frail princess, tucked away in a golden room with jade furniture. One could only hold a conversation with her if it was about astronomy, history, poems and paintings. Talking about anything else, such as news or TV shows, seemed to be a defilement of her pureness. Hence when I speak about the things I am interested in, she only listens with an aloof politeness while never stating her opinion.

I loved her when we were friends, and it hurts more than I could express to lose her friendship. I used to believe it was Uchiha Sasuke who made the first move, and she was an aloof victim that never seemed to responded. It took me six months to realize how stupid I was. Love cannot be connected with only one side, that's merely a crush. A relationship between two people is like a clap, an action that needs two hands working together. If she didn't reciprocate his feelings why was she leaning towards him in that gallery?

It was the bump on the head I needed to get me motivated in leaving him. I cannot lie to myself, not after I found the little bit of spirit I have left. Spirit that has not been scrubbed clean by Uchiha's money and spoiling. It was what I needed to get myself up on my feet. It was not easy, during the past half a year I did try extremely hard, working almost everyday and studying my craft. But now, as it turned out, I can't live like this. It was a new experience at first, exciting on my part. I thought I was embarking on an adventure as an independent adult and a new feminist, but the ugly side revealed itself all to quickly. Showing that with the minimal pay and sad living details, one could not survive being poor in this society. I could not afford good coffee or food, In fact I have not been on a shopping trip since forever. These activities and materials which I associated as one of the rights in person's life were proven to be a privilege. A privilege that I, apparently, was never going to have. I wanted to ask God if this was all there is in life. This! The endless 8 to 5 shifts, the coming home to a shoe box, and the single bed with a sprung spring mattress. And that day! when Uchiha Sasuke came to the bakery where I worked with fresh and crisp Armani suit and a Rolex on his wrist, I burst in to tears! Finding out then how pathetic I really was.

I was not feeling sorry for myself, I was feeling sorry about myself! 'If one does not have a privileged life to enjoy what was offered in this world, one shouldn't be born' For all intense and purposes, this was the frame of mind I had.

II.

One should not be offered the ability to change another's destiny on a whim. That was the first opinion I had during dinner with Uchiha Sasuke. It was kind of a ridiculous moment for me. I didn't know why I ended up here, apparently Uchiha Sasuke has a great method in manipulation and control. I was fooled by him, and therefore I agreed to dinner with him. I took the bus here, by the way. Ensuring he wouldn't know the place where I lived. It was not because I particularly valued privacy, but rather that I was ashamed. I moved from a penthouse suite in downtown to a place in suburbs that has almost no windows. The neighborhood itself seemed to be the place where ghost would come to die in a flat, boring, and dirty manner. So I took the bus and came to downtown, to this restaurant which I had a housekeeper who ordered from here every Wednesday night. But as it turns out, one order is basically my weekly grocery bill.

"Sakura." He begin as we both ordered and the waitress left.

I looked at him, and his overwhelming royal presence made me felt nauseous. Clearly we shouldn't be in the same room together, no more like the same universe.

"How was Ino's birthday?" I asked casually, swirling my wine. I detest wine. I wanted juice, but Ino loved wine. She could experience the region of the wine from just a taste. He changed his expression for a slight second and gave me a smile,

"It went fine." I knew Ino must've registered my feeling of betrayal since she didn't contact me for such a long time.

"I'm glad." I said to him. He touched the edge of his glass and looked at me with such precision that I shifted uncomfortably.

"Is there something you need?" I asked bluntly. He then waved,

"This wine, does it not fit your particular taste?"I frowned, what was this about?

He has never asked me about anything voluntarily. Not that I known of.

"It's fine-Uchiha-san, may I ask why am I here tonight?"

"There's no need to be formal."

He was dressed in a business casual polo shirt, with dress pants and leather shoes. His wrist still wore the Rolex from last time. It is a watch decorated with diamonds that act as number dials, and crystal plated surface. It is absolutely beautiful,... and it was not one of the many I got him for a present. I mildly wondered where were the watches I gave him, or the ties and cuff clips for that matter. Did he throw them away or tuck them inside a box somewhere?

"Right. Sasuke-kun." As I spoke these words a smile spread across my face.

He seemed relaxed at my referral.

"I noticed you were working in Mercredi bakery."I nodded, taking a slip of the wine to hide any facial movements that may suggest unpleasantness.

"It's a fulfilling job."

"So you're happy."

"Quite." Lowering my head as I tangled my fingers together into a knot.

"That's lovely." He said, eyeing my face carefully.

I tried to reflect back to the time where he and I were together. It seemed that he made no further advance than asking me if I would like to be his girlfriend. After happiness overcame me, and being a silly girl in college, I agreed fervently. Never thinking to ask him anything else. I was an unnecessary item to him, a expendable pet. I needed his money to be happy, and he gave it to me. The appetizer came, it was a delicious truffle seasoned with various herbs and caramelized unions. With a swipe of my fork I seemed to have finished it. (I later cursed myself because I forgot to take a photo of them. It seemed that it will be a long time before I eat something like this again.) As soon as the appetizer plates were taken away, he spoke again.

"Sakura, why did you leave? Were you not happy with our arrangement?" My eyes shifted to the side, never directly looking at him.

"No, I was happy. But I felt useless. I want to do something interesting."

"I see." He considered the statement.

"Baking?"

"Yes. Many people eat the pastries I make, and I like to create different designs and colors-I graduated from an art college." I continued on, not thinking of anything else.

"I like to be surrounded by warm sweet smells of coaca and milk, with the crisp bread and silky butter as my instruments. They make me have a sense of self worth, and I-"I suddenly stopped, reminded of myself how ridiculous I seemed. Here I was in a upper class restaurant with plain clothing and a gorgeous man sitting in front of me. Twirling his crystal cup as if the Lucifer himself descended and reincarnated into him. I bet his soul does not have any color. I ate my meal in silence instead, only pausing to look up at him. He didn't touch his plate and asked for some tea instead. It must've been all that hard work at the office, he lost his appetite, or he had a recent stomach problem that forces him to eat lighter meals. He had this problem before, and once he felt so horrible I had to take him to the hospital and they discovered an ulcer in his stomach lining. Unlike him, I am the type of person that is able to digest a rock in my stomach. He poured some tea into the glass and sipping it once in an awhile, closing his eyes in fatigue. I looked at his lips, and suddenly found my heart beating faster and faster. He opened his eyes to look at me, and our eyes caught, forcing me to tear them away and bury myself in food. It was a delicious sandwich, a meal that is typically quite difficult to eat with grace, but up until this point I didn't care. Suddenly I found myself self-conscious at my image. So I put the sandwich down and wiped my mouth with the silk napkin lying beside my cup.

"Tea?" He asked, eyes suddenly gleaming.

I too numb to answer him, but he pulled my wine glass away and replaced it with a cup of warm and slightly jade colored liquid. It was not the overwhelming fragrance of green tea like I suspected, but a softer scent and a hint of citrus. I sipped and sipped until the liquid felt like freshly renewed blood down my throat, and into my stomach. In the end we packed the sandwiches up and he drove me to my mini apartment. A part of me was so humiliated that he would see the condition of my home at the moment, and another part was strangely proud of it. Because I was so conflicted, I asked him to drop me off the the corner parking lot, thanked him for a good night and wished him a to have a restful evening. When I got out of the car, I heard another car door close, and as it turned out he got out too.

I must've looked extremely confused, because he asked me with a slight smile,

"Are you not going to invite me in?"I stammered,

"Do...do you want to?"He smiled,

"Very much."I must've be imagining things when he followed me through that narrow alleyway, and up the broken ramp, the steps and steps of stairs filled with garbage and dirt. I stood in front of my door, looking back at him, the face that stood above thousands in society, and saw him looking at me determinedly, eyes straight. I opened my door and realized the reason I let him in without pretense. It was because I secretly hoped he would want to have something to do with me. I'm hoping it like mad, not because I still liked him, but rather because I want to seek revenge. There's a sentence I never thought I would finish. Revenge seemed so far away from me and my everyday life. I had been planning to remake my life and start it again brand-new, with ordinary jobs and ordinary apartments, but as it seems I'm close to the edge of poverty.

"Sasuke-kun?" Thinking of this, I smiled sweetly at him.

"You look thirsty."He looked straight at me with a slight curve of his lips.

His eyes aren't the mocking type, rather soft and quiet, but intensely focused as if I am the only thing left in this world. This makes me afraid to look at him too, afraid that he might figure something out. In truth I have no idea what I was afraid to hide, because I don't quite know what to feel. Should I feel ashamed of my living condition, or should I feel hopeful that he will take me away from all this? But one thing is pretty clear, and that is Uchiha Sasuke is here for a purpose. A purpose I've yet to find out.

I took out a glass jar from the fridge, and inside are thinly sliced lemon soaked in pure honey water; I made batches of it a couple weeks ago, and I've been saving them for a cold winter day to make honey lemon tea. I suppose an Uchiha is a pretty important guest, therefore I took two slices out and gently placed them in a cup while waiting for the water to boil. From where I was standing I could clearly see him on the couch, sitting with his knees apart and elbows placing on top of his knees. His chin are resting on his hands which are clasped together. He seemed to be in deep thought. I shifted my eyes away from him uncomfortably, because I felt that he should not be here. Instead he should be in a mansion and being waited on hand and foot. If this was placed back four hundred years, he should be draped in silk and fur and sitting atop of a throne. He is born to be placed in a position of higher social stratification, and yet at this moment, he looked so...tired.

Placing the tea in front of him, I sat across from him.

"Sakura." He said, eyes tired, "I didn't realize how hard this was for you."

I stared, hoping like mad he would offer to take me back or something of equal value.

"I now know, I shouldn't confine you to that apartment."

It was a penthouse suite with a large swimming pool balcony.

"I respect your decision, and since you want to live here, I won't ask you otherwise, or insult you by asking you to move back..."

I wanted to roll my eyes and faint in front of him right there.

"...However there is one thing I would like to suggest." He leaned back and eyes narrowed,

"I would like for us to try again."

"Try?" I asked, confused at what he meant.

"Restart our relationship. Another chance."

I stared at his perfectly sculpted face, and found myself wondering what a perfect nose he have, it is like a clean and swift cut by the hand of God, and I bet I would look a lot better if I had a nose like that. In fact, I bet I would look a lot better if I had his lips or his eyes. My mind wondered off and he had to clear his throat to remind me I still have to gave an answer.

My mind then wondered to what good is he if he doesn't provide me with material comfort. But then again during those two years while we were together I really was unhappy. I felt sluggish and pressured all the time, and I felt as if life was a burden tied to my waist while I'm splashing the waves trying very hard not to drown. The only reason though, why I tried so hard, was because I knew I loved him. I loved him in a way I didn't even understand. It wasn't a superficial adoration, it was not an obsession either. It was more like a piece of a life raft I had to held onto. I didn't understand it before but I understood now. He is my faith.

Yes, faith.

Some people need to love to feel happy, I need his love to breath.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

A/N: Sorry for the late update. Suddenly I realized nobody will like Sakura very much right now.. She isn't the saintlike all sweet and innocent girls people usually see as protagonists.

Special Thank you to Lynarg, my beta.


	19. Payment-3

Chapter 3

I.

I am currently looking at my kitchen.

It is fully furnished with ivory counter top and mahogany cabinets. Each handle is made from glass crystal. All the utensils inside are brand new, organized in the most convenient locations. There is an extremely large knife rack with every kind of knife imaginable. Most important of all was at the opposite end of the stove top. That is where a lovely book shelf is nailed to the wall, with hard cover recipe books I picked out by hand. The top shelf consist of mostly books on appetizers and deserts, and the bottom a shelf full of main courses and ethnic cuisine. There is one book specialized in pies, one in soup, one in salad... It was the kitchen I dreamt of having. It was where the culinary me belonged.

I walked away from the kitchen, and up stairs into the bedrooms. There are three bedrooms in total, one master and two guest houses. The master bedroom opens up to the terrace, where plants and vines crawled up to top of rails. Opposite the balcony is a large hallway like closet, where one side of the clothing is mine and the other side is his. Towards the very end there's a shoe rack that could rotate. All my shoes are in there, all polished, washed, and looking brand new. I suspected some of the worn out ones were replaced by new pairs, because I remember scuffing a few boots. Looking at them now, the marks had mysteriously disappeared.

The bathroom consists of peach colored towels that I picked out, feeling incredibly soft and slightly scented. In the bathroom several rows of hair and skin care products, as well as cosmetics, are neatly stacked in miniature shelves in front of the mirror. There is enough on the shelves to last me several years. The ceiling above has a round skylight that could be controlled with a remote. At night the stars are particularly beautiful to look at from there.

It seems, though. That I have returned to the world where I had lived before.

There are some slight changes that I have noticed. For one, seems that Sasuke has given me more freedom. This place now felt as if he offered this place on a silver platter. Every inch of this house is designed by my decision. I picked the color, decor, all the sheets, rugs, painting and vases. Since he doesn't want to get involved I might as well decorate this house into whatever I wanted, even though there's a small part of me hoping that the house is under my name. Apparently he doesn't want to insult my dignity or something to that effect.

Something else happened, quite noteworthy really. Uchiha Sasuke, the workaholic who spends all of his time inside his company, suddenly decided to return to this house every single day. He wakes up extremely early too, which causes me to wonder why does he want to spend all his time commuting.

We sleep on the same bed together.

Well, it's not what one may think it is, it's more like a sleeping arrangement. The point is that he'd often gets extremely tired when he got back. Often he would eat his meal and take a shower, check over some files, and then get ready for bed. For the first few days it felt weird for us to immediately sleep on the same bed. However, it turns out that I was being narcissistic-he really does nothing other than sleeping beside me.

Now he would often require my presence in his study. He even asked me to furnish a small corner with a comfortable love-seat and items for my random little hobbies. I currently placed a few sewing needles and my crochet project over there, all for crocheting a silky sea blue scarf.

It was a habitual thing, I guess.

I still work part time at the bakery, except I don't put out any of my pastries out on sale anymore. Instead I take a portion home with me, and the rest to a lovely little day care in the neighborhood. It was a rich kid's daycare in gated community I lived in. where I lived was prestigious enough that the people could at least have an on property daycare. The kids there welcome me and I was acquainted with the girl who runs it, Hinata.

Other than bringing them little pastries, I also teach them how to sketch and paint a little. I am no expert myself, but I can manage to teach a few kids to paint a sunset. Sometimes I bring poetry or stories, and read to the kids aloud. They loved stories of princesses, knights and magic. Other times, I would sing to them. I had a fairly...ok voice. It's not as sweet as Ino's, but it's soft and perfect for sending the children to sleep before naptime. Then during nap time Hinata and I would talk quietly in the kitchen.

After that it would be almost three in the afternoon, the perfect time go to the supermarket if I needed anything. Then would be just enough time to come back home and prepare dinner for Sasuke and I.

Its difficult to say who paid more attention to this relationship. After my basic shallow needs are met, I found myself couldn't care less about meeting the same for him. That meant the food I cook and the furnishing of this house are entirely to my taste. Last week I cooked fish and half expected Sasuke not to eat any, but surprisingly he ate just as much as usual and looked fine. I hope he doesn't mind being my guinea pig in cooking, more importantly I hope he won't sue me for unintentional food poisoning.

I went to the supermarket today, and shelves of lovely marinating jars caught my eye. Reminded of how my mother used to marinate all kinds of vegetable in those jars, soaking them in wonderful spices, becoming delicious after a few weeks when stir fried with meat. Under the sunlight they shone beautifully with various green and crisp colors. The spicy ones are red as fire in a glass. And so before I realized what was going on, I was already driving home with a row of jars in the backseat and boxes of vegetables.

I spent the next four hours washing each leaf and placing them in to the many marinate jars. I then cleaned my kitchen and decided to order in drapes for the windows to make the sunlight coming in less harsh. This house is facing east and west, making every corner filled with sunshine at any given time of the day.

Sasuke called, saying he's coming home early and taking me to a gallery opening tonight.

My mind was buzzing with nervousness. I hardly ever went to gallery openings, even though I loved the arts dearly. I quickly finished dusting around the guest rooms and jumped into the shower.

It's funny that I own all of these fancy dresses yet I rarely have occasions where I'm wearing them. After countless long moments of decision making I decided to stick with a black dress that for the most part seemed plain, but has a decorative cut hole on the back and was made from a fine silk. I paired it up with a cream cashmere shawl, reminiscent of the classic outfits of old movie stars. Then I picked out a diamond necklace with earrings to match.

Sasuke returned when I was doing my hair, and he chuckled at my nervousness.

"It's just a formality, I'm sponsoring this artist."

"Still." A red blush spread across my face.

He then leaned down to kiss me on my forehead with affection before jumping into the shower.

When we were getting ready to leave, he pointed at the marinating jars,

"Are we having pickled vegetables this winter?"

I gave him a smile.

"my mother used to make them, and they reminded me of home."

"You had a happy childhood, didn't you?" His hand on my waist held me a little tighter.

"Yes, quite." I replied, "We were not that rich, but they gave me everything I needed."

I was looking directly ahead as he turned to the garage to pick out a car, suddenly reminded of all the uncertainty of this relationship. Would it last that long? Making pickled vegetables is something that takes time, in other words it's long term commitment. I hope Sasuke did not assume I was hinting at something for our relationship.

The drive towards downtown was quiet and a bit tense, which surprised me. Honestly I didn't know what I did to offend him. Given that he's not the type of person who would talk about whatever annoyed him at a moment's instant, I knew there wasn't much chance of getting an answer if I questioned him. Therefore I kept my mouth shut and enjoyed the view.

When we were almost there, he suddenly spoke, "My brother is also going to be there."

I turned my head to him, he grimaced as he looked ahead.

The relationship between him and his family is something that has always puzzled me. It seemed complicated yet at the same time simple. He hardly ever talked about his parents or elder brother, and I have only seen Uchiha Itachi in the newspaper. However I heard they are working closely together in business, so I suppose they can't be that far apart.

"Alright." I nodded, taking his reminder as a sign to stay silent in front of other Uchihas.

"His wife is also going to be there." He said, "and their daughter."

That was surprising, I didn't even know his brother was married.

"Oh." I cleared my throat, "Er.. How old is your niece?"

"Thirteen."

I blinked, "Lovely."

The vehicle arrived at a rather modern looking building that was all black on the outside. Some decorative lights filled up the corners, many valets were taking over cars out front. Sasuke and I got off, while he handed the keys to a young man, I must have been gazing at place with a look of stunned amazement. It was decorated into a Greek and Hellenist style, with pillars and sculptures out front, velvet ropes surrounded them and a golden tag beside them named their prices. The steps of this gallery were massive, when going up I could hear the crispness of my heels as they clicked on the marble.

"I thought-this was going to be a modern-or post modern-something." My voice faltered as I tried to find the right words. In truth, I don't understand all that much about art in depth enough to know the terms used in it. That doesn't change the fact that I adore it.

He smiled, "We're taking it back a couple thousand year and reviving the classics. Isn't this the sort of thing you're into?"

My eyes widened, "Yes, sort of..."

"Then let's enjoy it."

Inside was all the details related the mythologies and heroes in them. I thought I was going to faint from sheer happiness. I did my minor in mythologies, so I was familiar enough with all the faces and paintings relating to them. This new artist seemed to have combined the renaissance revival styles with the modern twist on more ancient styles. Thus the paintings produced seemed almost transparent in nature, and the sceneries of water and sky were so pure they almost flowed. I begin to look at each one intensely and noting every single detail, even the tiniest bit of detail was interesting. Sasuke stayed with me for awhile before he had to go around and mingle with others in the gallery.

I took a glass of wine and some appetizers. Munching slowly on them while sitting in front of a painting of a man being struck by a bolt of lightning.

A young girl in heels sat next to me, sipping a glass of juice.

From a glance I could see the type of person she was. Her glossy dark hair and large chocolate eyes, wearing a drape-like sapphire dress and almost crystal clear shoes with ribbons on top. They were what tipped me off about her. She was the princess of the family, the girl who got everything she wanted in life.

"Do you know what this painting is about?" She asked, pointing to it in front of us.

I found this thirteen year old girl equally intimidating as her uncle.

"Um..." I stuttered, "I.."

In truth, I hadn't actually looked closely at it. That included all the paintings in this room, I merely admired how beautiful they were to my eyes. The stories they were based on and what they represented weren't really at the top of my mind. It has been almost three years since I graduated college and my mind was very fuzzy on all the bits and pieces of information I was forced to learn from a text book a long time ago. But I do remember the basics, "Zeus.." I said, thinking that the lightning bolt is his specialty.

She gave me a look out of the corner of her eyes with out turning even moving a single centimeter of her head, and said, "that man beneath him-he's being ripped apart."

"I see..." I squinted at the painting, only now conscious that as soon as she sat down I stopped eating.

"He committed a crime." She continued, head nodding slightly towards the poor man stricken by the bolt, "And he's going to pay for it for the rest of his life."

I stare at this girl with delicate features. I did not know such depressing words could flow out of the mouth of a girl like her.

Even worse, I saw Ino approaching us.

She wore all white, making her look much paler than usual. Combined with her long blond hair falling down her back, it seemed that her figure is in constant danger of being blown over by the slightest breeze.

"Sakura." She looked happy to see me, "I heard you and Sasuke got back together, congratulations."

I ripped a smile with effort by tugging on the corner of my lips.

She then greeted the girl with considerably more personal warmth, "Erika-san."

The young girl didn't even stand up. She merely made a noise from the tip of her nostrils to indicate her acknowledgment of Ino's presence, who did not seem to mind. She turned to the painting, "Prometheus, ah, for stealing fire."

Erika produced a single syllable, "How?"

"The way his death portrayed, for example, being tied and ripped open-the raven at the corner here..."

Suddenly I was reminded of how I came to love this particular aspect of culture. Ino used to tell me about stories of Gods falling in love with humans-and I was fascinated by the idea of loving someone who seemed omnipotent-

I've had enough, so I stood up and was preparing to leave, then upon turning around I saw the most beautiful man alive.

Uchiha Itachi, in the flesh.

I daresay there has not been any one time in history of this city that his name was not mentioned in any public publications for longer than a month. He is the face of his family, which is edging on royalty at this point, and his position in this city could be labeled as crucial. The Uchihas are family decendents of generals back when war was still prevalent, and even at the dawn of this republic nation, their position as veterans were immovable. They branched out from business to politics, and largely thanks to this man. The Uchihas are a family who is able to controls the ups and downs of this city.

"Father." Erika stood up and bowed to him.

I quickly followed, "Uchiha-san."

"Haruno-san." He returned the gesture.

"Uchiha-san." Ino stopped talking and also bowed.

"Yamanaka-san." He nodded at her, "Gave my regards to your father."

"I will, thank you." Ino said robotically.

My mind wondered off again, but this time it was to Ino's family. In all the years I have ever known Ino, I have never met her family. I do know, however, that she was not being treated as well as she should have in that family. She was born out of wedlock, from the womb of another woman. But that woman soon died after she gave birth, and the Yamanaka family raised Ino on the side, without abusing her or giving her preference. She went to the schools that a wealthy kid should have gone to, and finished her education as planned. She was practically invisible in that family, but nevertheless held the name, therefore entitled to a proper education.

Other than that, I don't know anything else about her family.

I turn to glance at her again, because ever since she appeared I tried my best to avoid her general area. However, it seemed that she's not feeling very well. Her face is so pale and I could almost see the veins on her arm.

I looked away, secretly hoping she has a disease or something, and will drop dead at anytime.

Sasuke walked on over to us, breaking the tension. He first said in a respectful tone, "Aniki:", then a playful tone to Erika, "Erika-chan."

The first nodded and the second laughed a pretty tinkle laugh before hugging him, "Oji-san, have you seen mother?"

"She's in the front, applying eyeshadow to a bust your father just purchased." Sasuke gestured, "Go."

Erika almost flew off in a fairy like stride, leaving the four of us staring at each other. Finally Uchiha Itachi raised an eyebrow and said, "Sasuke, be careful."

Sasuke lowered his head, "Yes."

Itachi nodded at the Ino and I before leaving, and turning this into the most awkward silence I have ever experienced.

"Well." I begin, wanting to say something nasty to Ino, but I saw her falter a little before holding onto a pillar and sitting down-and her eyes never left Sasuke, who seemed to be frowning at us. I opened my mouth for a full two seconds before changing what I had in mind to, "I'm all out of wine."

This night has turned into a freaking disaster. I stood in this huge gallery and found it had become claustrophobic. All these beautiful things and I don't want to look at any of them. They seemed to be mocking my lack of intelligence. And turning around, I saw what supposed to be my boyfriend, talking to Ino by leaning into her ear.

I gave the empty crystal glass to a nearby staff and walked out of that gallery.

II.

Sasuke chased me out onto the streets. It was already pitch dark, but the street was lit up by shops and street lamps.

"Sakura! Stop!"

I ran ahead as fast as I could, but of course heels and the dress hindered my speed and in less than a minute Sasuke caught up to me and grabbed me by my arms.

"Sakura." He stared down at me, "Let's go home."

My mind was in a mess at the moment, thoughts racing through me as I worked to decide what to do next. We have been back together for less than three month, and during these times have been the happiest days of my life. He came home everyday, and there was not a single scent of a strange perfume or hint of his infidelity. But also he didn't force me or touch me at all and come to think of it we never actually had sex other than the first time we saw each other. Even then I don't remembered if it was a mistake or not. I have been with him since I was 20, and it's been five years. I want to know, to scream at him exactly what was it that he wanted. If I could offer it up, I would. But I don't have the courage to so much as ask. Because we're all just playing a game of facade at the moment, and as soon as someone calls it out, it's all going to fall apart. I may very well never see him again, and I would be saying good bye to the life style I so desperately wanted.

Another hidden fear arose inside of me. I knew it must be that I am useful to him or something, and that's the reason he's kept me around. When I'm no longer of any use, he will throw me away. I had that fear in my mind for a long time, the idea of painful it was going to be when we broke up. I was always scared that this day was going to come sooner than I expected, but it hadn't. I don't know why he didn't take what he wanted from me and get it over with. This pressure that I have, between loving him and being scared of him, is crushing me to pieces. I don't have any idea how to reinstate security back into the relationship-until, until I saw Tiffany's across the street.

I switched my eyes back to his, and I cried.

He hugged me tightly in his arms, and patting my back.

"I really, really love you." I told him, choking on sobs.

He held onto my face and kissed me.

I don't think I will ever forget that night, when he looked at me with both sorrow and adoration, like starlight itself broke into a thousand pieces of fragments within his eyes-

Perhaps it was love.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

A/N: I want to finish this one-shot quickly and move on to finishing other stories. Thank you for reminding me to write again.


	20. Payment-4

AN: Sorry for the change in POV, it's necessary.

Chapter 4

I.If there's one thing that Uchiha is not in the lack of, it would be hubris. All of them has made the mistake of trying to control everything, thinking all were within their grasp, and there's nothing left for fate to decide on.But one of the fun things about being a human is that there's always surprises. Fun surprises for everyone. Perhaps one can control the destiny of another, but his own alters along with it.Now this all would be fine is Sasuke left Sakura alone. But he didn't, you see, he came after her like a wolf behind a sheep's mask.II.

Sakura had a dream yesterday that Sasuke loved her.

It was a painful sort of dream, as her mind was in total bliss even a few minutes after she wakes up. The good thing about dreams are that when you are in one, your mind truly conveys that reality as your own, and all the thoughts and emotions that flows through you are perfectly sincere. Until that is, when you are being snapped back to reality.

Sakura looked at her surroundings and found them to be extremely foreign. Before she woke up, she didn't really pay attention to her background her or whereabouts, but she remembered the feeling of comfort and being loved deeply. However after she woke, she found herself strangely annoyed by her room. The room with small plants and beautiful bamboo decorations, crystal glass chandeliers and silk curtains, the room she picked out with the most expensive material available from her choices provided by her interior decorator. The room she spends her nights with Sasuke.

Her dream was short and in fragments. But the basic scenes that she remembered was how she was very sad when he's about to marry Ino, but at the last minute he changed his mind and came to her. She remember the ecstatic feeling of running towards him, the feeling of hugging him so close, close enough to become mixed into one, and the feeling of holding her whole world within her arms.

Before she can think deeper of her dream. Sasuke came in with breakfast on a tray.

Sasuke is becoming more and more affectionate towards her nowadays. He knows she doesn't want to cook breakfast because of her habit of sleeping in, he took charge of all breakfast foods. He begin to learn from frying an egg to making marvelous breakfast omelette layered avocado in bread bowls. This time he brought a stir fry of veggies and egg along with a bowl of fresh mixed fruit to her. Sakura's eyes sparkled as he laid them on bed and brushed her hair aside. She dug in when he found a hair tie on her bedside and tied her hair back for her. Pink strands of bangs fell within her eye vision, and she made a whiny sound before he pushed them back and clipped them up to her crown.

"This is delicious." She told him after a first gulp.

He kissed her forehead and made no comment.

She finished within five minutes, and he put the tray on the table. When he turned around he saw her rubbing her tummy and said, "I'm so full.."

"Go shower and get dressed." He smiled at her, "we're going out today."

Sakura was curious, "Where?"

"It's a secret-"

She started flapping her arms on to the bed sheets while whined in a tiny voice, "But I'm too full to walk. I'm stuffed and I can't make it into the bashroom..."

He grabbed her arm in an expert way that does not hurt her, instead he flung her up and carried her whole body within his arms while walking towards the bathroom and delivered her to the glass shower stall.

"Shall I strip you?" He asked teasingly, with a smile that simply made Sakura stare and unable to summon words.

When he reached to unbutton her pajamas, she quickly turned on the showerhead and slapped his hands away while squealing in pure excitement, while pushing him out, she started her daily shower routine.

Sasuke's eyes poured with pure affection as he entered the kitchen-to pack a picnic basket. With each of the different sides he prepared previous night into small lunch bento boxes, and wrapped them all up with a silk sheet, and went to the garage, placed them in the trunk. When he came back, Sakura was drying her hair and humming a sweet tune and changing all at the same time.

"We're leaving in 5." Sasuke leaned against the door and told her.

She gasped, "but I didn't even put on makeup yet."

"You don't need to." He said softly, brushing her hair away from her face.

She blushed, but quickly said, "Get out, I need to go to the washroom."

In the end she still put on some eyeliner.

III.

They spent the day in the amusement park.

It was the park that just opened. Sasuke took her to the main attractions and done it in such way that she did not know he had bribed the linesman to let them in after just a couple minutes of waiting. Or if the best and brightest and furriest toys were out at the very front and was extremely easy to achieve even with Sakura's horrible hand-eye coordination. She took the huge bear in her arms and laughed all the way from the game until to the food vender-when her mouth watered for a candy apple.

"If you eat this you won't have the stomach to eat lunch." Sasuke frowned.

Sakura, "Please? Please? Pleasssse?"

He consented in the end, and got in line to buy that red and delicious apple.

Sakura stood aside, watching as how ridiculously he looked, a tall and straight figure in black woolen trench and designer scarf and shoes in line with a bunch of kids with their fist full of change from their parents picking out the most deliciously looking treats.

She turned around, and saw a small girl drooling in behind her, at her bear.

The little girl was about five or six, with pigtails and a pink dress that's smeared with a little dirt, probably because she fell, and a bow on her head that's crooked. Her mother was not far away, but fussing over another baby in a crib while paying no attention to her. The little girl was too shy to speak up, but her fingers knotted together due and she looked down with her chubby cheeks flushed.

Sakura bend down and said, "Do you like this bear?"

She nodded, but shy enough to burst into tears.

Sakura placed the stuffed animal into her arms, while patting it one last time, "take care of it. I know it's going to a happy little girl's home."

The girl blinked a few times before bowing deeply and then turned around back to her mother. Sakura stared at her and wondered if she will have a daughter with such nice manners in the future.

Sasuke stood behind her, his heard tingling in slight pain for the first time.

In the end Sakura didn't finish the apple. She bit a few bites into it and pushed it away. Which Sasuke ended up eating the entire thing. He saw her snicker when he bit into the part that she left marks on, and raised an eyebrow.

She explained, "it's indirect kissing." More giggling.

Sasuke of course if a man resistant of teasing, much less from a silly girl. So he said as if it's a universal fact, "it's not like I haven't kissed you before."

"Hentai..."She blushed while wiggling in his arms, to which he pulled her closer and kissed her until her head started to spin.

Spinning in a land full of candies and apples.

That night, she was folded like as small green frog position while he's on top of her. Both her legs were raised to his shoulders and she looked all crumpled up, with her butt held high for him to take. Sasuke, while thrusting, revealing his muscles with beautiful and healthy contours, pushing himself into her, with the hardest part of him invading her softest and tender insides. He grabbed onto her hips and explored in the fierce her folds and layers. At first she's able to control it by clenching her teeth, then she whole body started shaking uncontrollably as he pushed further and further, until she started pleading and crying and spent all her energy holding on to him. Waves and waves of pleasure crashing down on her, beyond her capability of handling them, she screams in the tiniest voice, trembles each time he thrusts. He does not seem to show mercy in bed, as each flick of his finger is able to trigger the most violent reaction and squeeze her sweetest juices out. She's so incredibly tight to him, it amazes him every single time as he discovers how her body is able to suck him in, sometimes he lets loose almost too early for his taste.

When he finishes, he refuses to pull out. As if it's a normal, he plugs himself inside her, hugging her soft and wet body within his arm and regain his conscious mind slowly sliver by sliver, while breathing heavily against her neck.

Sakura really doesn't have much energy left after all the crying and begging. She closes her eyes and whimpers once in a while, wiggling her body slightly to express her discontent. In the soft yellow lights of their dimmed bedroom, Sasuke is able to see the light layer of small white hair near her temples. She's still a child-he thought to himself. A child with such basic innate kindness. A child that crashes until the pressure whenever it comes, and she needs someone to look after her for the rest of her life-

He bit her.

Originally he started by licking her lips, tonguing each fold and crease, then he held her bottom lip within his mouth, and start sucking with a light force and small bits. She opened her watery eyes and looked at him like a bullied puppy looking at its owner. He felt a overwhelming sense of satisfaction with small discontent-something he recognized but does not want to dig deeper-and want to consume her whole.

Sakura, at that moment, beginning to start to believe her dream. It's morphing into reality.

IV.

Sakura met Ino in front of her gallary, when she admired her latest work. Paintings of cherry tree branches.

They were dedicated to her, Ino said. She also said that they were paintings that she wanted Sakura to see.

Sakura thought that she was going insane. Her mentality is unable to morph together the two personality she has at the moment. The thoughtless fool when she's in front of Sasuke, or the manipulative bitch she is when she's in front of Ino.

Years and years of friendship-literally years.

She is able to recall her first memory, it was with Ino. Her first toy she shared with Ino, and her first dress that she ever wore, with Ino, They were inseparable when they were young, that is, until Ino was taken away to live with a large and wealthy family.

Which became extremely weird when Ino said to her out straight, "You need to leave Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura looked at her, the Ino in a traditional Japanese kimono, her pale face and long hair, her eyes bright and large-and realized that she has never hated someone so much in her entire life.

Sakura turned around to leave, and before she was able to, Ino grabbed a hold of her sleeve.

"Sakura-chan." Ino's voice croaked, "Please-"

Sakura pulled away and left, Ino collapsed down crying. When Sakura looked back, she saw Ino curled herself in a fetal position, sobbing sadly.

If she's nice to others then she'd being cruel to herself. Sakura thought in comfort as she left, her eyes watering.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N: I'm so sad that I'm away from FF for so long. I will try my best to get back. I realized that maybe the length of the chapters are more of a hindrance to my writing than supportive. Maybe shorter chapters and frequent updates from now on.


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